Not National News: Teenager With Airsoft Gun Shot By Police

Will we get riots over this?

Maryland trooper shoots, kills teenager who had airsoft gun

A Maryland State Police trooper responding to a pair of 911 calls shot and killed a teenager who was pointing what investigators determined was an airsoft gun at him, authorities said Tuesday.

The shooting occurred after state police received two 911 calls about someone acting suspicious, Superintendent Woodrow Jones II told a news conference. The first caller said he thought the person had a gun, left a telephone number but didn’t give an address before hanging up, Jones said.

A second caller gave a street address for the suspicious person that was a short distance from the Leonardtown barracks, but the caller hung up before identifying themselves, Jones said.

Anyone thinking this was a setup in some manner?

Jones said the trooper, who responded alone, encountered Peyton Ham, 16, who he said had a gun and a knife. According to the superintendent, a witness said they saw Ham in the driveway of the home “in a shooting stance” and pointing a weapon at the trooper.

“The trooper fired at the male, wounding him,” Jones said. According to another witness, Ham then pulled out a knife and tried to get up.

“The trooper ordered him to drop the knife before he fired again,” Jones said, adding that the trooper reported the shooting and called for emergency personnel while other troopers gave first aid. Ham was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Jones said.

An investigation revealed that the weapon Ham wielded was an airsoft gun, which is commonly used to shoot BBs and which Jones called “a close representation of an actual handgun.”

It’s simple: do not point any firearm, real or fake, at law enforcement officers. Or anyone else that is armed. You may not like the results. Or you family may not like the results, because you’ll be dead. If officers show up, put it down. This is pure common sense, which is in serious lack these days. When do the riots start and the media make a big deal out of this? When is Walgreen’s, Port Of Leonardtown Wines, and Dunkin get looted? There’s not much more in Leonardtown, it’s small town on the shore of the tip of Maryland south of D.C.

The teenager was white, as is the trooper who shot him, according to Maryland State Police spokesman Greg Shipley.

Oh. Never to both. It’s a small town, with both the main office for the State Police in the county and the Sheriff’s office.

Meanwhile, Dana Loesch makes great points I 100% agree with

1) Don’t resist arrest. Don’t help to escalate a situation by not getting out of your vehicle or by jerking your arms out of cuffs when cops are serving a warrant for felony possession and fighting with them while trying to get into your car to flee. Contest the warrant in court. Contest the entire idea of detainment in court, if you want. Cops enforce the laws that politicians write…..

2) Cops should know the difference between their tasers and their guns. Thankfully, most do. Thankfully, situations like what we saw on that video are rare. The state of duress counts, true, but this is why training exists….

Duante Wright was not a good person. He was on bail from a 2019 assault and attempted robbery while he had a firearm. His bail was revoked in July for allegedly possessing a firearm. He was pulled over for expired tags (not the silly “he had an air freshener hanging from the mirror”), then the cops saw the warrant for his arrest. Had he complied, nothing would have happened.

(Yahoo News) The family of Daunte Wright on Tuesday dismissed the initial conclusion by police that his fatal shooting by an officer who fired her gun instead of a Taser during a traffic stop was an accident.

“An accident is knocking over a glass of milk,” Jeff Storms, an attorney for Wright’s family, said during a press conference outside Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis. “It’s not an accident to pull your gun out of your holster. It’s not an accident to point your gun. It’s not an accident to ignore the fact that what you’re holding doesn’t weigh the same amount as the Taser you’ve used in training hundreds of times.

“So don’t tell us it’s an accident,” Storms said, “because it undermines the tragic loss of life that this family has experienced.”

They’re correct. It was not an accident. Duante shouldn’t have resisted, and the officer should not have kept her taser near her firearm, and should have known immediately that she wasn’t grabbing a taser. It would be a different color, for one thing. A lot lighter, for another. Most are taught to keep it on their non-dominant hand side. Officers should know what is on their belt like they know how to walk in their house in the dark. You rarely see a cop fumble for their handcuffs, because they know exactly where they are without looking.

And, of course, Obama had to chime in

Obama: Daunte Wright shooting shows “just how badly we need to reimagine policing”

Former President Barack Obama on Tuesday stressed that the U.S. needs to “reimagine policing and public safety” after Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by a Minneapolis officer this weekend.

What he’s saying: “Our hearts are heavy over yet another shooting of a Black man, Daunte Wright, at the hands of police,” Obama said in a statement.

“The fact that this could happen even as the city of Minneapolis is going through the trial of Derek Chauvin and reliving the heart-wrenching murder of George Floyd indicates not just how important it is to conduct a full and transparent investigation, but also just how badly we need to reimagine policing and public safety in this country.”

“Michelle and I grieve alongside the Wright family for their loss. We empathize with the pain that Black mothers, fathers, and children are feeling after yet another senseless tragedy. “

No mention that Duante assaulted a woman, choked her twice, all in an attempt to steal $820 in her own home. Or that he was certainly illegally in possession of a firearm. Or that he violated bail, and resisted arrest. Perhaps we need to be reimagining what kids are taught about the legal system, that you fight this in court, not the streets. It’s easy for Obama, Michelle, and their kids, who are surrounded by Secret Service all the time, so, won’t be choked by punks.