GUNS DON'T KILL PEOPLE, OR DO THEY?

[HairOfTheDog]

I was annoyed when I read that story early this morning. I know and understand that it is more complicated than the story I posted. I know there is often only a split second to make a decision but some of these shootings are just so horribly wrong.

It's a sad story. Johnny Crawford picked up an open bebe gun from a shelf in the sporting goods section while he was browsing the store. He was carrying it around while he was talking on the phone to the mother of his two kids in the pet section.


You can see in the shooting video ^ that when the cops arrived, Crawford dropped the bebe gun and tried to get out of the line of fire. But, he was cornered by an officer coming at him from the other aisle and he turned around and was shot to death.

The Grand Jury refused to indict the officers when this happened a couple of years back. Crawford was shot on sight based on the 911 caller's claims that he was pointing the gun at kids and scaring people. The caller later changed his story and confirmed that Crawford had never shouldered the gun and pointed it at anyone (which is confirmed by the full store video later released; Crawford is just casually browsing with the bebe gun).


A judge just ruled that the caller, ^ Ronald Ritchie (pictured left, Crawford pictured right), can be charged with filing a false alarm. If he's convicted, he can be fined and face a year behind bars.