Discussion: People Rally at Ohio Wal-Mart Where Cops Shot Man Holding Toy Rifle

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Discussion for article #227059

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Every incident won’t have the same impact as the one in Ferguson, but each case of questionable police behavior shines light on something that won’t be ignored. Let’s hope some positive changes come out of these tragedies.

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This incident was truly outrageous. The black male victim was speaking with his girlfriend while he was shopping. She has stated that she heard him saying to the police “it’s not real” just before he was shot.

I’m surprised this one didn’t get a lot of coverage since a 37 year old white woman also died -in front of her young daughter- as a result of the hasty police shooting.

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Did the young man buy the air rifle at the WalMart that day or did he bring it into the store from someplace else? If he purchased it in the store then…well… one would think WalMart would cease selling products that cops would kill customers over. I mean …isn’t it bad for business to shoot your customers??

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If a white man has a right to carry inside a WalMart, why doesn’t a black one?

Maybe we should we all start calling 911 when we see a white man buying a gun at WalMart? That’s the kind of protest that would get the national media’s attention when police cars begin surrounding WalMarts all across the nation?

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It was the same day. He didn’t even get a chance to enter a check out before they wasted him.

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Then it’s just so very very wrong. That someone would call the police and that the cops are so trigger happy. This man was killed for the crime of being black in a walmart. That’s how I see it with the limited information I have. There likely is more detail but I have not seen it. And of course someone will say this man has a record. Not that it matters now… No more visits to WalMart for me

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There likely is more detail but I have not seen it.

Nobody has seen the video evidence but the family attorney, Walmart security and the police - who wont release the security tapes of the shooting

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There must also be something written somewhere other than the bare bones stuff in this article. I mean I’ve read more detail from the comments than the article itself…

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I looked for more info and it backs up what I posted earlier. I’d add that in the Ferguson incident I said it was wrong to release the video of the supposed robbery Michael Brown was involved in and that it tainted the jury pool. I think the same thing here. The facts are reasonably clear at this point. I think it’s wrong that one of the 2 officers involved has resumed full duty. I think both should be restricted until after any investigation at a minimum.

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This was a news report from before they released that he was holding a bb gun he picked up in the store.

Here’s the next day. The media is still calling the victim a suspected shooter and they are still saying the victim was carrying a rifle, not what it was, a .177 caliber air rifle. A BB gun.

Don’t miss this last and latest video. Much more of the story.

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I like this idea. A lot. Call the police whenever you see someone (black, white, brown, red, yellow, green, purple, I don’t care) in a store with a gun. In fact, call the police whenever you see someone openly carrying a weapon in a public place.

After all, if the police can’t tell the difference between a freedom-loving Second Amendment devotee and a robber/murderer, how am I supposed to tell the difference? I am threatened by anyone walking around with a gun unless it’s hunting season, and he’s standing next to a pickup truck by a trailhead in a state forest.

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If Walmart doesn’t like this kind of publicity it should stop selling guns of any kind, even toy guns.

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I would agree with what you say. But here’s a piece on WalMart’s gun policy:
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=4652299

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Thanks Martin.

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The fact that he supposedly said it’s not real doesn’t mean the police have to believe him.

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A fair trial. Sure.

Release the tape.

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Are you tone deaf? You see how these cops act.

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You’re missing the point. A guy walks across a parking lot carrying a rifle. Is he just excercising “freedom,” or is he the next Adam Lanza? Can you tell the difference? No? Well, neither can I. Call the police.

Are the police going to make mistakes? You betcha. The solution is to put a stop to all the “open carry” nonsense. You buy a gun in the gun department at Wal-Mart? Fine, but you don’t leave that counter unless the gun is in its box, taped shut. You don’t walk around the store with it. You don’t saunter across the parking lot with it in plain sight.

Asking the police to make these calls on the spur of the moment is a recipe for trouble, as we keep seeing. The police should be able to assume that anyone carrying a gun in public is a menace. There’s no deer hunting allowed at the shopping mall. There’s no need for vigilantes to be prepared to deal with armed robbers. The police shouldn’t have to engage in on-the-spot psychoanalysis to figure out whether it’s a good guy with a gun or a bad guy with a gun. That’s asking too much of law enforcement, and we’ll keep paying the price as long as we keep expecting cops to make these sometimes impossible decisions.

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First, I agree with all that you are saying.

There is something missing here, though. White men with guns don’t get gunned down on sight.

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