[Plano Mark]

This sounds like it may be a tragic accident.

Man dead after officer involved shooting in Ft. Worth - Dallas News | myFOXdfw.com

A man is dead after being shot by Ft. Worth police in an overnight incident in a residential area.

Two officers responded to a residential burglar alarm call shortly before 1 a.m. on Tuesday in the 400 block of Havenwood Lane North and came upon a man with a handgun.

In a statement, police say the officers feared for their safety and shot Jerry Waller, 72. Police have not said whether or not Waller pointed his gun at the officers.

"Officers were dispatched to a residential burglar alarm call and for reasons we don't know right now the officers ended up at the house across the street," said Cpl. Tracey Knight with the Fort Worth Police Dept.

Waller was pronounced dead at the scene, shot and killed in his own garage.

His house overlooks the golf course and K.C. Wright's house.

"We heard just 5 shots sounded like bam, bam not one shot then a return just 5 immediate shots," said Wright.

At first light Wright took pictures from his backyard. They show police investigators in Waller's garage with his body laying face down.

We can tell you Waller was only wearing pants, no shirts or shoes.

Wright said he's ready to share the pictures with police hoping it can bring some answers.

"A tragedy of errors that has happened here and we want to find out what happened," said Wright.

Neighbor Becky Haskin, an ex-Ft. Worth council member, says there was no burglar and that a friend accidentally tripped her house alarm.

"The neighbor across the street walked out with a gun doing what neighbors do - checking on each other," said Haskin. "They're just a nice retired, couple who worked in their yard had family and grandkids over very wonderful neighbors that anybody would love to have."

The officers have been placed on administrative leave while the incident is being investigated.

 

[new2carry]

I would hate to be the officer that had to live with that...Yes this is a rush to judgement and I do not have all the facts so dont beat me up for this statement to bad, It sounds like this was VERY preventable and that more training may be in order for the force...

 

[GunsandNoses]

Prayers sent to all.

 

[tazelmo]

That was a big boo boo on some ones part..

 

[20361]

I think they screwed up.
How many shirtless 72 year old burglars are there anyway?

 

[kruizer]

You never know what you are going to encounter in a situation like that and the coppers are always on high alert with a bad case of adrenaline rush. If you see a lot of police squads, its not a good idea to show up with a gun in your hand.

 

[MOONDAWG]

:r_c: Somtimes bad things happen to good people.

They have micro seconds to react to what the courts have years to decide.

Prayers:angel: sent out for all who are involved...

 

[JHPRICE]

shooting the owner of house across the street from where you were sent ?? when you see someone in pants and no shirt i would assume it was the home owner not the thieves.This sounds like several errors and lack of training on some ones part. Would like to know if there was a alarm going off making noise they were responding to
jhp

 

[Waltherfan01]

I agree with you, Moondog, but that will come as little consolation to the family of the dead man. Praying for all involved. ":r_c: Somtimes bad things happen to good people.

They have micro seconds to react to what the courts have years to decide.

Prayers:angel: sent out for all who are involved..."

 

[aphdmansoc]

Very sad story. The grief that the family will experience is going to be awful. Sudden, unexpected deaths usually take twice as long "to recover from" than anticipated deaths. To compound this death by accident at the hands of police will just add to it.

 

[john_bud]

Those 72 year old men living on golf courses are dangerous.

It's human nature to jump to a conclusion, I'm human ... but will with hold any more snarky comments. I would really hate to have any police officers hesitate and get shot! But also don't like hearing about citizens being shot by trigger happy police. QUite a quandary.

Just have to send prayers to all involved!

 

[Plano Mark]

I also believe that this story should be a lesson for all of us gun owners, defending their/neighbors property. You may not be the only good guys with guns responding to an alarm or possible break in.

 

[TexasAviator]

I would need more facts before I made up my mind completely.

However, my initial reaction, based on the limited information available, is that the officers should be held for trial for murder. Maybe other facts will come to light that will make me rethink my position but thats my initial reaction. I always intentionally error on the side of the victim over government until I have all the facts.

 

[spirit51]

Well, versions differ - the victum (72 yr old) was in his own garage and apparently the flashlights from the officers blinded him. The officers 'apparently' didn't identify themselves and were at the wrong address. Look, if I heard noises (living in these times) I would be in or on my property armed also. These two officers have not been on the FWPD very long, I think 6 or 8 months. 6 shots fired....naturally....shoot first..ask questions later. It is a split-second, life or death situation but I'm thinking that there were other alternatives to deadly force. Two wrongs don't make a right.

So, you hear noises...you have a weapon...could be a BG or LE....finding out one way or the other could cost lives.

 

[Argos]

Unfortunately these kinds of incidents are one of those unintended consequences of modern police training backed up by a society who wants to and even demands to sluff off personal responsibility, citizenship, and care for thy neighbor, onto an armed and deadly police force. In the end when people want to blame the involved officers, I say yes, sure, if you are ready to blame yourselves as well.

As far as I am concerned the police are only needed to take the statement, take the burgs body away, and give me a number for someone to get the blood out of the carpet. This going in hot and heavy is going to result in tradgedies like this and like the hundreds, yes hundreds, that occur every year across this nation.
I believe that criminals can be reformed, by 158 grains of lead traveling at 1200 FPS. I don't believe in pre-crime. I don't believe that unless you are Johnny On The Spot can policing stop crimes already in progress. Call to dispatch to arrival on scene of an officer can take 15+ minutes, even if response time from the responding officer's location is only 1-2 minutes. I watched a car get stolen, a friends car, the responding officers were less than 30 seconds away. It took 15 minutes for them to arrive. During that time the thief got the car running, he was really inept actually, and drove it off. If this was a state with property protection and SYG laws and not a liberal cesspool I would have prevented that car theft. Citizens armed, willing, and civic minded are better at stopping crime than anything else.

Instead we ask them to do the impossible, train them with a war mindset, and then we get these incidents. In many way's the officers are as much a victim of our culture and it's demands on them as the dead citizen. There are seriously good things a Professional Police Force can do in society, instead we use them as our personal demands puppets and flood them with contradictory law and other horrid things. We make the monster that may one day come back and kill us.

This whole attitude of observe and be a good witness is a load of BS. Even more the attitude of MYOB and let the police take care of it. We are so much about shifting all the risk onto a small pool and we sure don't seem to give a damn about our neighbors. Yeah, you might die. I can think of worse ways to go than doing good rather than standing round watching it happen. You can die old and in a bed, crapping yourself, remembering watching a woman get raped while you waited for the police or a thousand other things.

My prayers for the family of the victim and for the officers as well.

 

[ozzy]

Whatever happens coroner inquest will rule the police not responsible as always. Just a way to prevent lawsuits.