Suicide By Cop

It's what they call it when someone wants to die but go out in a blaze of glory.

"It was in an instant, with a SWAT team surrounding him, that Christopher David Penley slipped into an alcove in a school bathroom and raised what officers believed was a black 9 mm Beretta handgun, authorities said. Moments later, a deputy shot him.
Penley, 15, who was on advanced life support Friday night, was holding what turned out to be a pellet gun, authorities said. Earlier, he had pointed the weapon at another student at suburban Orlando's Milwee Middle School, then traversed the campus before ending up in the bathroom confrontation, investigators said."

At a news conference after the shooting, authorities put the weapon side-by-side with a Beretta. It appeared to have black paint covering the red or pink markings on the muzzle that may have indicated to officers that it was a nonlethal weapon.
"As you can see, it doesn't take a professional to see how close this looks to the real thing. I would not be able to tell the difference," said Joyce Dawley, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement special agent in charge of the investigation.

Well of course you'd be incapable of knowing a facsimile from the real thing, Joyce. Law enforcement knows next to nothing about weapons, but you do get a pass on this one because even folks who are familiar with such things might have squeezed off a round at this kid. Reflexes can be hard to control when the shit hits the fan, and, after all, any decent pellet gun CAN shoot your eye out. But 40 officers surrounded the teenager and not one of them could tell that he was carrying a bb-gun?

Yeah. Not much professionalism going on these days. Shame the kid had to be wasted like that, but it's what happens when you walk around waving a toy that looks real. Too bad there wasn't some senior gunster on the scene who would have spotted the fake. Joyce is half right though. It doesn't take a pro to see how closely his toy resembled a real gun, but a real professional would have spotted it in an instant. Here's hoping this kid pulls through. 15 is old enough to know better, but the only one he hurt was himself and another crack at life might turn him around.

No such luck...UPDATE

Lawyer: Teen Shot by Police Brain Dead LONGWOOD, Fla. (AP) - "The 15-year-old boy shot by police while brandishing a pellet gun in a middle school bathroom was clinically brain dead Saturday but was being kept alive to harvest his organs, his family's attorney said. Christopher Penley was expected to die Saturday night, said family..."

Damn shame, but in Florida the cops mean business. They'll taser your ass for looking at them sideways and don't think the wheelchair is going to give them pause, grandma. Such a waste of life.

UPDATE on the UPDATE

Seems that the kids father told police that the gun wasn't real, but they weren't in the mood to take any chances. That does indeed piss me off. With all the gear these SWAT guys wear any one of them could have charged the boy and slapped the bb gun out of his hand. With no one getting hurt. Bad police work, VERY bad police work.