• MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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    4 months ago

    You can’t help a situation if you’re dead.

    Tactical retreat and getting backup/informing the secret service sniper team was a better play, and safer.

    I assume that the message simply took too long to make it through all the interdepartmental channels, and he was able to get shots off.

    Realistically, WTF was the cop supposed to do? If he proceeded forward, he’d probably get shot. Without checking in to dispatch to report the presence of the shooter and that he was on scene in the company of a guy with a rifle, then dispatch would have been very slow to respond, if they responded at all.

    Talk to the guy? He’s clearly deadset on doing something. You don’t climb on a roof with a rifle without a plan and the will to execute that plan. Talking to him is going to either agitate him or just get the officer shot… The chances that the cop could have talked him down, even if the Leo had expert negotiation training, is slim at best.

    The standard carry equipment for a police officer is pretty limited. It’s not like he has grenades or something, and don’t forget, at this point he’s on a fucking ladder with a rifle pointed at his dome at point blank range. Calling for someone with the correct equipment and training to get onto the roof to handle the guy, with the correct equipment to do so, and/or, have a fully trained sharpshooter that’s already positioned nearby take that shot, is a better way to handle the situation.

    Look, I’m not going to defend the police about what happened at Uvalde, or any other school shooting, but in this scenario, given the options, falling back to call reinforcements was the right call.