Boy, 6, Killed in Deputy Shooting in Texas Days Before Christmas

[Cattledog]

A 6-year-old boy was shot dead in a mobile home in Texas four days before Christmas after sheriff’s deputies opened fire on a suspect outside, the authorities said.

“In my opinion, it’s a tragic accident that led to the death of this young man,” Sheriff Javier Salazar of Bexar County said at a news conference on Friday, referring to Kameron Prescott.

The shooting occurred on Thursday in Schertz, Tex., a small city near San Antonio. Sheriff Salazar said a deputy was responding to a call about a stolen vehicle when he found the suspect, a woman who was wanted on two felony warrants.

He said the woman appeared to be armed and threatened to shoot the deputy before she fled. Hours later, she made her way to the mobile home park.

Sheriff Salazar said she forced her way into one of the homes. Kameron was inside with his grandfather and a girl.

The suspect threatened to steal their car before going outside and confronting five sheriff’s deputies. She threatened to shoot them, Sheriff Salazar said, adding that she appeared to be holding something resembling a handgun.

Four deputies opened fire, killing her. Officials later found “some sort of a dark-colored pipe that very well could look like a gun barrel” near where she fell, Sheriff Salazar said. As of Friday, officials had not recovered a weapon.

One of the deputies’ bullets struck Kameron, Sheriff Salazar said; a deputy administered first aid but was unable to save his life.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/23/us/texas-boy-police-shooting.html?module=WatchingPortal&region=c-column-middle-span-region&pgType=Homepage&action=click&mediaId=thumb_square&state=standard&contentPlacement=3&version=internal&contentCollection=www.nytimes.com&contentId=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2017%2F12%2F23%2Fus%2Ftexas-boy-police-shooting.html&eventName=Watching-article-click&_r=0

[CrispyQ]

1. Young man? He was a child!

There are too many gun happy law officers who would rather shoot it out, than find another way to handle a difficult situation. A way that requires thought & consideration. OMG, they might have to use their fucking brain! These men do not genuinely care that they killed a child. They made that obvious when they referred to him as a young man. HE WAS SIX!

RIP, little one.

[Igel]

2. I've reflected over all the instances I can recall where I've called young males "young men."

Including my own.

It's usually not disrespectful.

If you look at the information in the direction from facts to form a judgment, you get one likely conclusion.

If you look at the information in the direction of assumed judgment to fitting the facts in the pre-approved slots, you necessarily get a second.

From facts to judgment doesn't rule out the second conclusion. But it makes it far from certain.

Sounds like the kid was inside the mobile home that the woman broke into and whose occupants she threatened. Then she went outside and "confronted" the police. I don't know that there was any real evidence that the mobile home was occupied. A bullet could easily pass through parts of the mobile home's shell and even interior walls, or maybe a window. The cop who fired the bullet might not have even thought about the backdrop. That's a violation of gun safety. But it's really hard to take into account all the things you don't know, even when you're supposedly trained to keep them in mind.

Here's the nice woman who tried to break into homes, threatened a 6-year-old kid, and then cops. All the officers involved were Latino. (Stop and think if Jones had been Latino and the officers white.)

https://s7d2.scene7.com/is/image/TWCNews/amanda_jones_mugjpg?wid=640