Woman shot by police after shooting intruder

[Mark 1911]

Looks like a high adrenaline situation contributing to a very bad mistake on part of the home owner. Very sad, but looks like a good shoot by the police. Fortunately, she is expected to survive.

Bearing ArmsREALLY BAD DAY: Officer Shoots Home Owner Who Just Shot Armed Home Invader - Bearing Arms

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Wow, rough day. This is why plain clothes police officers are trained that the uniformed guys onscene are in charge and to listen to them until they verify who you are. Turning with a gun in your hand and pointing it is bad. It is, unfortunately, also a natural instinct and without conscious effort to overcome sometimes results in tragedies like this for both armed civilians and plain clothes officers.

 

[printcraft]

What-ifs abound.... need more information.

 

[HoughMade]

I'm not entirely sure that anyone can be blamed for this...other than the original mope.

Hard to blame the woman for not dropping the gun immediately when police show up (good idea, but I'm not going to judge someone who just went through what she did), hard to blame the cop for shooting when she didn't.

 

[T.Lex]

Honestly - the only reason this doesn't happen more often is that LEOs take (relatively) too long to get to the scene.

That local PD was "too" efficient.

(Lest this be misunderstood, I understand LEOs do their best to get to where they are dispatched as soon as they can. I'm just saying that WAY more often than not, by the time they get there, things have been resolved for at least a few minutes.)

 

[Drail]

It would seem she violated one of the four rules (unless she thought the LEO was another bad guy). She was almost certainly in mild shock. I can't help but think that if you are solving a problem in your house with a shotgun - maybe it would be better if the cops were not summoned until you were completely finished. You might mistake them for a bad guy and they might mistake you for a bad guy. In defense of the LEO - being thrust into a situation where you have essentially no info on what is happening or who is doing what to whom is inevitably going to lead to things like this. Communication is extremely important once guns come up.

 

[freekforge]

and people wonder why i always say to put the gun down or not to re holster after you stop the threat. But i really cant judge any party (well the intruder is a POS) she just shot someone that she once cared about and the cops made a horrible yet understandable mistake.

 

[Mark 1911]

and people wonder why i always say to put the gun down or not to re holster after you stop the threat.

I have never been under that kind of stress so honestly can't say that I wouldn't make the same mistake that she did. I hope I would not, but people react much differently under stress and shock. Maybe it's stating the obvious to say that after a defensive shooting to put the gun down and do not still have the weapon in hand when police arrive. My wife and I took an NRA sponsored class on basic handgun safety, including a session on what to do after a defensive shooting. Putting the gun down is one of the items they covered in the class. The intent was specifically to prevent this kind of situation.

 

[freekforge]

You do act differently under stress which is why its always good to practice laying the gun down and not reholstering or whatever. I have never been in a gun related incident but i can tell you when the cops respond to a 911 call and you are standing in the middle of the road with a bloody knife they aren't goi g to be to friendly at first and that goes for any weapon. luckily i snapped out of it and remembered to put the knife down and tell them where the dog ran to and that i was the victim.

 

[Ryno300]

This is one of my bigger fears. Some years back I was traveling on business out of town when my wife heard someone slowly open the screen and try the front door about 9pm at night. Just then the motion light in the rear of the house went on - could have easily been a coincidental raccoon or something where we lived, but she immediately went to code red. I didn't know all of this was happening but I saw I had missed her call on my cell and just happened to call her back within 2 minutes. She answered the phone in a complete PANIC...crying, out of breath, trying to tell me what was happening. She finally was able to tell me a bit of what had happened. She said she had the snubbie in her hand and the police were on their way. Just then she said she saw car lights..."Oh my god, please this must be them". I immediately started yelling (in the middle of a corporate cocktail reception half way across the country) "PUT THE GUN DOWN!" "Do NOT answer the door with the gun in your hand...put it down right now!!" I just had this terrible vision of her answering the door and it going very bad, very quickly. Thankfully she did and in the end the officer was great. Nothing found outside, but needless to say she was terrified and I was just a little stressed a 1,000 miles away.

 

[MPD742]

Locker room talk is cheap and it is easy to say if I had been there I would of have done whatever. Facing a cop with a weapon in your hand is dangerous, even with the muzzle down, reaction time is needed for the officer to be safe. Planning, training and practice are a homeowners friends.

 

[Droogie]

I love the update...

Mrs. Skinner had filed numerous protective orders against Mr. Skinner, but none of those orders stopped him from invading her home armed with a large knife and a handgun. Mrs. Skinner struck Mr. Skinner in the chest with a shotgun blast, which seemed to have a more lasting effect.

 

[One Shot One Kill]

I love the update...

 

[roscott]

That is a very sad story. It will be hard for her to get over, and I imagine even harder for the police officer. Most officers are prepared to use lethal force against bad guys, but I think using lethal force in the wrong situation is probably the worst fear of LEO.

As tempting as it will be to armchair QB this one, sometimes you just have to admit that friendly fire does happen, people are human, and trying to fry someone over this incident won't help anyone.



Except the estranged and violent husband. He can definitely be fried. Much deserved.

 

[AmmoManAaron]

Communication is extremely important once guns come up.

QFT

 

[mcjon77]

One thing that someone mentioned in the article's comments was that the woman had just discharged a shotgun in an enclosed areas, most likely without hearing protection. It is anybody's guys how much she actually heard when the officer gave his command.