Monday, January 9, 2012

A Tale Of Two Guns




Why you trying to second guess me?
I am tired of second guessing.
—R.E.M., Second Guessing


Here’s a story that may not be getting much attention outside of Texas, but you may want to watch.

Last Wednesday, police in Brownsville—a city on the Texas/Mexico border—shot and killed 15 year old Jaime Gonzalez in a middle school hallway.  His godmother complained to the Brownsville Herald that “[i]t was not right . . . They didn’t give him a chance.” 

I can only assume she was there and saw the whole thing to know that.

His parents, predictably, are already looking for a lawyer, and want to know “[w]hy was so much excess force used on a minor?”  Civil rights groups are demanding an investigation.  I assume it’s only a matter of time before we have Quanell X, Al Sharpton, and the other usual spotlight vultures showing up to decry once again The Man’s police brutality against people of color.

Excess force.  Didn’t give him a chance.  Hmm.

Here’s the thing.  Jaime Gonzalez was carrying a gun.  In a school.  That alone really ought to end the discussion, but there’s more.  The incident began when Jaime beat up another student, prompting school officials to call the police.  The 911 tape reveals that officers repeatedly—repeatedly—ordered Jaime to drop the gun, and he didn’t do it.  He then pointed the gun at the police, who immediately opened fire.

What makes this a little more complicated is that the gun young Jaime was carrying turned out to be a .177 caliber CO2 pellet pistol.  So between the victim’s age and the nature of the weapon, the narrative quickly becomes an anti-police tale of Cops Kill Boy Holding Toy.  But take a quick look at the photos at the top.  One of these is the pellet gun carried by Jaime Gonzalez.  The other is a 9mm Glock 17, a weapon used by police and militaries around the world.  The pellet gun probably won’t kill you, but the Glock most certainly will (yes, I know, guns don’t kill people, people do—try to keep up).  And I challenge you to give them just a brief glance and see if you can distinguish between the two.

Now try it under life-and-death duress.

It’s a funny thing about cops:  when you point a gun at them, they’re not inclined to ask you what it is.  They don’t have time to study it.  They don’t get the opportunity to have you drop the magazine so they can inspect the ammunition, or measure the bore diameter.  They react to defend themselves and those around them, and they do so with deadly force.  They shoot center mass, because it’s easier to hit under duress, and far more likely to stop an assailant than a shot to the arm or leg.  And if there’s more than one cop around when you point that gun, all of them are going to fire.  It’s called “suicide by cop.”

They have to be this way.  In 2011 alone, 177 police officers were killed in the line of duty in the U.S., 71 of them by being shot.  That’s up from 153 in 2010.  It’s a dangerous business, and it’s why they carry weapons in the first place.  And a gunman in a school is no laughing matter, either.  Since 1996, there have been 80 school shooting incidents in the U.S., resulting in 164 dead.  What’s more disturbing is the trajectory:  the period between 1996 and 2005 averaged 2.8 such incidents per year, while the period between 2006 and 2011 has seen a sharp uptick to 8.7 per year, a threefold increase.

Jaime Gonzalez’ death is tragic, as is the loss of any young person, under any circumstances.  One can understand his parents’ grief.  But to them, and to the civil rights zealots who are so quick to throw the police under the bus (or set up their lawsuit—I note Mrs. Gonzalez had the presence of mind to take photos of her dead son with her cell phone “to document the bullet wounds”) let me ask a couple of questions.  First, what the hell was Jaime Gonzalez doing at school with any gun, toy or otherwise?  His parents swear they didn’t know he had it and have no idea how he got it, answers that will no doubt be very convenient for their lawyer.  I’ll bet you dollars-to-donuts the truth is that gun was a Christmas present; of course, they’ll never admit that now.  But giving them the benefit of the doubt, I’ll respond with the same query I noted Bill Cosby posing to the black community the other day: why don’t you know that?  

My second question is more important:  what would you have had the police do in that situation?  Better yet:  what would you do when a person you don’t know refuses multiple commands to drop what as best you can tell is a gun and then points it at you?  The police have a right to protect themselves, and a duty to protect others.  I don’t know the range at which the police shot Gonzalez, but the maximum reach of a Taser is only about 35 feet; one doubts they were that close.  Obviously, batons, pepper spray, and compliance techniques require reducing that range much closer, not exactly practical against someone potentially wielding a gun.  That doesn’t leave the police with many options.  Gonzalez’ death is a tragedy, but how much more tragic would it have been had he been about to take a real gun on a Virginia Tech-style rampage, and the police failed to stop him?  What would we be saying to the parents of however many innocent victims?  What would we be saying to the wife and children of a slain officer had the police delayed their reaction long enough to permit Jaime to open fire first?  The police can’t take that chance.

The job of the police is difficult under the best of circumstances, but it gets harder and harder when every move is handicapped with worrying about who’s going to question their actions, and how they’re going to explain them when they get sued.  It’s very easy to play quarterback from your sofa with instant replay and slow motion; it’s very, very difficult when life-and-death decisions have to be made in a nanosecond.  The fact of the matter is if Jaime Gonzalez doesn’t bring a gun—of whatever sort—to school, if he doesn’t beat up a classmate, if he simply complies when the police tell him—again, repeatedly—to drop the gun, the police aren’t put in that situation and this never happens.

My heart goes out to Mr. and Mrs. Gonzalez; I wouldn’t wish the loss of a child on anyone.  But it also must go out to the officers involved, who did what they had to do in a situation that afforded no time for contemplation, and no margin for error; they will have to live with Wednesday’s events for the rest of their lives.  

43 comments:

  1. You should see the photo of Jaime with his girlfriend and the GUN she is holding.

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  2. Thank you for posting this article. I have been trying to explain this to many, over and over, to no avail.

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  3. he also was heard yelling he was ready to die and there is a photo of him on twitter with his girlfriend holding a handgun

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  4. Thank you for posting this. It has divided our city and many don't understand and choose to make ignorant comments about the situation rather than understand the officers' side of the story. You have no comments here, but your blog is being passed around our city via social media and helping a great deal

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  5. photo source for pellet gun is incorrect, here is the correct source;

    "A photo of the CO2 .177-caliber pellet pistol 15-year-old Jaime Gonzalez was holding. Photo: Yvette Vela / Yvette Vela"

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  6. the photo credit for the pellet gun (1st photo) is Incorrect, here is the correct source;
    "A photo of the CO2 .177-caliber pellet pistol 15-year-old Jaime Gonzalez was holding. Photo: Yvette Vela / Yvette Vela"

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  7. i say the police did nothing wrong. It was totally the boy's fault as well as his parents. Kids should not be allowed to play with guns (even BB guns).

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  8. PERFECTLY WRITTEN..

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  9. Well said. People are not thinking about how many lives were saved but the "innocent" life that was lost. This boy was 15! He knew right and wrong and the Brownsville PD were thinking about the many lives that were in danger. Yes everyone says that he was a good boy and he was involved in church and extra curricular activites but that doesn't mean that one day he will not snap or anyone. Has anyone thought maybe he was having problems at home or school that led to this trajedy? Probably not all people can think about is the death of an "innocent" boy. Be REAL people no one is innocent in this world. So brownsville PD I want to say thank you for keeping the children and faculty safe on that tragic day. And I want to say sorry that you have to live through it for the rest of your lives.

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  10. If the situation happened as stated then the officers acted accordingly and the shooting is justified. But...if not then they acted too quickly. You see there is suspicion that they were acting on what the assistant principal was saying to the 911 dispatcher. That dispatcher was giving another dispatcher the info who in turn was in communication with police. On the 911 recording you hear the assistant principal continually say he is drawing his gun, he is drawing his gun. You never hear her say he took out his gun, he is pointing it at police. This when in the begining she tells the 911 dispatcher that the kid has the gun in his crotch area. The kid needs to take out the gun from his crotch area in order to drop it but it seems the officers are not close enough to see that at that point in time he is no active threat although there is a potential threat. Since the asst principal is yelling he is drawing his gun over the phone and the police start yelling to the kid to drop the gun the kid panicks and starts running away. The cops catch up and shoot the kid. Then they add that the kid states he is willing to die just before he is shot. You have to understand that in this area, where Abel Limas/Judge has been convicted and countless of his cronies have been indicted on unrelated charges to this event, it is hard to trust what the police say. Where cover ups are all too common.

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  11. Truly sad I know both parties in this situation. The boy and one of the cops. This is a tragic event but it had to be this way that is what they are trained for in those situations. People need to read this article to open their eyes. 95% of the Brownsville PD is Hispanic not a minority in our city.

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  12. Well said. I couldn't agree more.

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  13. I'm not a big fan of the cops but they what they had to do. Like the saying says " I'd rather be judged by twelve, than buried by six".

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  14. Well-written and insightful.

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  15. I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOUR EXPLANATION OF THE LETTER KUZ JAIME GONZALEZ HAD THE SAME GUN HE TOOK TO SCHOOL POSTED IN TWITTER AND HES GIRLFRIEND WAS CARRYING IT.AND I DO APPERCIATE THE COPS DEFENDING THE STUDENTS LIFES I THINK THE PARENTS JUST WANT'S MONEY THEY KNOW THERE KID DID WRONG AND HE HAD LOTS OF CHANCES TO DROP THE GUN AND I BET THEY HEARD THE TAPE

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  16. I apologize if there were errors in the photo source citations. All I can say is I block copy it from the URL address that shows when I pull up the image.

    Thank you for all your comments. I gather this piece has garnered some local attention in Brownsville. Let me say my heart goes out to your community. This situation is obviously a tragedy. I hope the rest of the country can learn something from it.

    RDW

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  17. ALRIGHT mr.rusty workman

    question is why didnt they shot him in the arm or leg so that the kid then drop the weapon?

    its been proven by fact a local man goes to the firing range and always see cops more times not to mention they always practice yet they have poor decision lets not forget the kid had a life.

    why they shoot him 3 times including the head?

    one bullet was enough in the chest to kill the boy why 3 times?

    where was the counselor?

    why didnt teachers come up and talk the kid some sense?

    police man wore bullet vest yet they didn't man up and wore afraid and shoot the kid 3 times it truly amaze me on how people do things fast and unbelievable actions!

    police man have been train to do this types of circumstances why where the shoot him and not go behind him and get the shoot the taser gun since 2 police man were there why they didnt think of a strategy fast the kid was running cat and mouse game could of surrounded him and like i said poor judgement they made could of done a better job police are there to protect and serve not shoot first and ask question later ;)

    questions to be answer yet nobody steps up to the plate only in america XD

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  18. Anonymous--you note I put my name on my posts--they didn't shoot him three times including the head. The autopsy shows they shot him twice in the chest, center mass as I explained. The wound on his head was a laceration--a cut--from falling, not a gunshot wound. Two shots because there were two cops--one shot apiece. You appear to have missed my entire point and think this entire episode happened in slow motion with instant replay, like a football game on TV.

    RDW

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  19. Thank You Rusty...to all else, If u were not present during this incident, u have no right to talk or judge anyone's actions...nobody knows what it was like except the people who were there...so keep ur ignorant comments to yourself.

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  20. First of all this story is hogwash... Again another wanna be writer copying and pasting what they read and stamping their name on it. One find a photo with the barrel pointing in the right direction, secondly the child punch a kidin the nose, that hardly constitutes as a beating, also he was around the school in the begining and had ample opportunity to "shoot" his gun at some one including the kid he punched..... The school was on lock down and NO children were around, cops allowed an instigating assist. Principal wild them up when they should of been asking her questions on who the kid is and find out more about him instead of letting her call the shots.....they would of made a completly different decision after getting facts out of that idiotic asst. Princ. Furthermore he was isolated and the cops had corners to hide in back of while they tried talking to this child, they woulld of found out he was just trying to get expelled to go to the alternative school with his girlfriend......who is also the one holding the gun in the picture, not him... She appears to be the bad seed, he just liked her alot to try & get in trouble to be with her, not dead. I agree tragedy for all but you cannot believe everything you hear, wait for the truth. He was also in special classes.... I bet none of you knew that...... they over reacted and let the loud mouth prinipal and their fear take control of the situation, they need allloooottttt more training. Oh and I know a cop with a tatoo on his trigger finger that u all may question, does that make HIM a bad cop? Dont judge a book by its cover and do your own investigative report, sick of these cookie cutter crapola!!!

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    1. and i assume you've heard of this child;s record? when are we going to stop making excuses for the actions of our troubled youth?! bringing a gun to school = WRONG punching a student = WRONG. What our kids need is discipline, they are dying for it because parents are not doing their job starting at a YOUNG age, And the more we put these kids off and say oh it's just a bee bee gun, the more they will search for their limits whcih is what happened.

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  21. First of all this story is hogwash... Again another wanna be writer copying and pasting what they read and stamping their name on it. One find a photo with the barrel pointing in the right direction, secondly the child punch a kidin the nose, that hardly constitutes as a beating, also he was around the school in the begining and had ample opportunity to "shoot" his gun at some one including the kid he punched..... The school was on lock down and NO children were around, cops allowed an instigating assist. Principal wild them up when they should of been asking her questions on who the kid is and find out more about him instead of letting her call the shots.....they would of made a completly different decision after getting facts out of that idiotic asst. Princ. Furthermore he was isolated and the cops had corners to hide in back of while they tried talking to this child, they woulld of found out he was just trying to get expelled to go to the alternative school with his girlfriend......who is also the one holding the gun in the picture, not him... She appears to be the bad seed, he just liked her alot to try & get in trouble to be with her, not dead. I agree tragedy for all but you cannot believe everything you hear, wait for the truth. He was also in special classes.... I bet none of you knew that...... they over reacted and let the loud mouth prinipal and their fear take control of the situation, they need allloooottttt more training. Oh and I know a cop with a tatoo on his trigger finger that u all may question, does that make HIM a bad cop? Dont judge a book by its cover and do your own investigative report, sick of these cookie cutter crapola!!!

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  22. Oh fyi the cops didnt shoot him supposebly together at the same time, rumor is they shot him in the gut then he turned and ran down the hall and the second shot was in the chest....... Really?

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  23. Yea, a teacher will not approach an armed subject, come on....

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  24. I'M SORRY FOR THE LOSS OF THIS KID,BUT I THINK PD DID WHAT THEY HAD TO DO IN A CASE LIKE THIS. I HEAR THE TAPE OF THE CALL TO 911 AND IS TOO CLEAR THAT HE HAD CHANCES TO DROP THE GUN AND DIDN'T. BESIDES WHY TAKE A GUN TO SCHOOL? I THINK THIS KID PROBABLY HAD PROBLEMS AND FOUND THIS WAY TO FINISH WITH HIS LIFE. (AFTER I HEAR THE TAPE, THAT CAME TO MY MIND).

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  25. Hi. My name is Bobby and I grew up several blocks from Cummings Middle School. It is absolutely tragic what has happened there. I have taken the time to read your post and clearly you have a strong opinion on this matter. I do, too. Below are my responses to your statements.

    • Last Wednesday, police in Brownsville—a city on the Texas/Mexico border—shot and killed 15 year old Jaime Gonzalez in a middle school hallway. His godmother complained to the Brownsville Herald that “it was not right . . . They didn’t give him a chance.”
    I can only assume she was there and saw the whole thing to know that.



    Naturally Jaime Gonzalez’s grandmother is going to say something like that. Jaime was her grandson and she is in shock, and doesn’t have all the facts. Your last comment (the passive aggressive one “I can only assume”) however, really sets the tone for your blog and shows your bias right from the jump. So the hollow sentiments you write at the end, “My heart goes out to Mr. and Mrs. Gonzalez” are not sincere (as any reader will know) so please take it back.

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  26. • His parents, predictably, are already looking for a lawyer, and want to know “why was so much excess force used on a minor?” Civil rights groups are demanding an investigation. I assume it’s only a matter of time before we have Quanell X, Al Sharpton, and the other usual spotlight vultures showing up to decry once again The Man’s police brutality against people of color.



    The Gonzalez family has a lost son of their own flesh and blood at the hands of a police gun fire. Certainly they have questions regarding police training in a situation like this and their own idea on how these unfortunate circumstances could have been handled better, so on and so forth. I think any parent would be looking for a lawyer, predictably even yours (yes, using the word predictably was indeed a jab). As for you making Civil Rights groups out to be a bad thing, Civil Rights are just what they say they are; they monitor that your civil rights are not being violated. What it really breaks down to is that full and equal benefit of all laws are being met and exercised on Jaime’s behalf. There is nothing wrong with that (although Sean Hannity would disagree and the blind would follow him). By the way, throwing Al Sharpton and Quanell X under the bus like that calling them vultures, I’m going to guess you don’t know very many black people. Save that hate for your Klan meeting.

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  27. • Here’s the thing. Jaime Gonzalez was carrying a gun. In a school. That alone really ought to end the discussion, but there’s more. The incident began when Jaime beat up another student, prompting school officials to call the police. The 911 tape reveals that officers repeatedly—repeatedly—ordered Jaime to drop the gun, and he didn’t do it. He then pointed the gun at the police, who immediately opened fire.


    “He then pointed the gun at the police, who immediately opened fire”. Well Mr., I can only assume you were there and saw the whole thing to know that. The fact of the matter is only the cops really, really know what happened. And I hate it for police officers that they actually shot and killed a kid in the line of duty.That sux so badly. But this entire thing is far from just being a black and white scenario, I’ll show you: Jaime is a 15 year old 8th grader, so I’m going to go out on a limb and speculate he wasn’t the best in academics. Second of all, after listening to the 911 call, no ever used his name, Jaime probably wasn’t very popular. Third, how do we know he wasn’t defending himself from bullies? So no my friend, this is far from being just a black and white situation. The 911 call does prove that the officers repeatedly tell Jaime to drop the gun and to put the gun down. I wonder if anywhere in their training they are taught to say things to children in suicide situations like: “Don’t do it son” “Think of your family” “Let us help you”. Jaime didn’t open fire first, the cops did. Being a cop is a hard job and I am not judging those officers for what they did, but I do want to know if they could have exercised other alternatives.

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  28. • What makes this a little more complicated is that the gun young Jaime was carrying turned out to be a .177 caliber CO2 pellet pistol. So between the victim’s age and the nature of the weapon, the narrative quickly becomes an anti-police tale of Cops Kill Boy Holding Toy. But take a quick look at the photos at the top. One of these is the pellet gun carried by Jaime Gonzalez. The other is a 9mm Glock 17, a weapon used by police and militaries around the world. The pellet gun probably won’t kill you, but the Glock most certainly will (yes, I know, guns don’t kill people, people do—try to keep up). And I challenge you to give them just a brief glance and see if you can distinguish between the two. Now try it under life-and-death duress.


    I took your challenge and you are right; I couldn’t distinguish the difference between the two guns at first glance. But after studying them for a few moments I could. And if I had been a cop and this was my job, I would expect that training would teach me that too (like a guitar or car expert would know a type of guitar or car after looking at it for a few moments and tell the difference since it is what they do). For as long as that shouting “PUT THE GUN DOWN” went on, they could have called it had they had better training. As for the whole “ life and death duress” thing, my answer is this; you’re not fit to be a cop if you fold under the pressure. Our tax dollars, our lives and the lives of our loved ones depend on them to be professional. If they can’t, we could always use more unarmed security guards.

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  29. • It’s a funny thing about cops: when you point a gun at them, they’re not inclined to ask you what it is. They don’t have time to study it. They don’t get the opportunity to have you drop the magazine so they can inspect the ammunition, or measure the bore diameter. They react to defend themselves and those around them, and they do so with deadly force. They shoot center mass, because it’s easier to hit under duress, and far more likely to stop an assailant than a shot to the arm or leg. And if there’s more than one cop around when you point that gun, all of them are going to fire. It’s called “suicide by cop.”


    This is a very good point, but I don’t think it applies to this situation. Listening to the 911 tape it sounds like they had all kinds of time to study the gun. They had time to ask this kid his name if they wanted, but they didn’t. As a matter of fact, that shouting match could have gone on all night and into the next morning because it wasn’t a real gun in the first place. Those cops shot first and killed Jaime dead. And yes I agree that it is indeed a funny thing about cops trained to shoot center mass because it makes their job easier. But you and I should never settle for cops who want an easy job. If they had been trained to incapacitate the kid with a shot to the leg or arm, they might have been heroes instead of having the internet and whom ever else condemning them like criminals for just doing their job. If it turns out that they had suspected it was a suicide by cop situation, it should have been handled like a suicide situation.

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  30. • They have to be this way. In 2011 alone, 177 police officers were killed in the line of duty in the U.S., 71 of them by being shot. That’s up from 153 in 2010. It’s a dangerous business, and it’s why they carry weapons in the first place. And a gunman in a school is no laughing matter, either. Since 1996, there have been 80 school shooting incidents in the U.S., resulting in 164 dead. What’s more disturbing is the trajectory: the period between 1996 and 2005 averaged 2.8 such incidents per year, while the period between 2006 and 2011 has seen a sharp uptick to 8.7 per year, a threefold increase.


    These statistics do not surprise me, but again, this doesn’t apply. You keep forgetting that the gun wasn’t real and that the cops shot first. We don’t even know if the pellet gun was loaded. Did you research the statistics on cops shooting unarmed kids or kids killed by police over fake guns, too? You are steering the reader with your passive aggressive sarcasm and your biased statistics to validate what happened to Jaime and it’s wrong.

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  31. • Jaime Gonzalez’ death is tragic, as is the loss of any young person, under any circumstances. One can understand his parents’ grief. But to them, and to the civil rights zealots who are so quick to throw the police under the bus (or set up their lawsuit—I note Mrs. Gonzalez had the presence of mind to take photos of her dead son with her cell phone “to document the bullet wounds”) let me ask a couple of questions. First, what the hell was Jaime Gonzalez doing at school with any gun, toy or otherwise? His parents swear they didn’t know he had it and have no idea how he got it, answers that will no doubt be very convenient for their lawyer. I’ll bet you dollars-to-donuts the truth is that gun was a Christmas present; of course, they’ll never admit that now. But giving them the benefit of the doubt, I’ll respond with the same query I noted Bill Cosby posing to the black community the other day: why don’t you know that?


    You act as if though your parents knew everything you did at all moments of the day. We have (or I have, I should say) established that this kid was troubled. You do not sympathize with the Gonzalez family’s grief so don’t even front, you are not fooling anyone. I’ll bet you dollars to Kale that that gun could have come from anywhere (i.e. the parents, a friend, Wal-Mart, Big 5, Costco, anywhere, the variables are endless). And I assure you that no one at all finds any of this convenient.

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  32. • My second question is more important: what would you have had the police do in that situation? Better yet: what would you do when a person you don’t know refuses multiple commands to drop what as best you can tell is a gun and then points it at you? The police have a right to protect themselves, and a duty to protect others. I don’t know the range at which the police shot Gonzalez, but the maximum reach of a Taser is only about 35 feet; one doubts they were that close. Obviously, batons, pepper spray, and compliance techniques require reducing that range much closer, not exactly practical against someone potentially wielding a gun. That doesn’t leave the police with many options. Gonzalez’ death is a tragedy, but how much more tragic would it have been had he been about to take a real gun on a Virginia Tech-style rampage, and the police failed to stop him? What would we be saying to the parents of however many innocent victims? What would we be saying to the wife and children of a slain officer had the police delayed their reaction long enough to permit Jaime to open fire first? The police can’t take that chance.


    What would I have done? I would have asked the boy his name. I would have asked him to talk to us. I would have told him that there is life after middle school and that life gets better. This wasn’t Virginia Tech. That guy came in shooting. This kid had a pellet gun that we don’t even know if it was loaded. This situation would not have had a slain officer or a widowed wife. You are straying way too far from the facts and steering your readers insulting their intelligence. Maybe those cops couldn’t have taken that chance, but that will forever only really be for them to know in their heart of hearts.

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  33. • The job of the police is difficult under the best of circumstances, but it gets harder and harder when every move is handicapped with worrying about who’s going to question their actions, and how they’re going to explain them when they get sued. It’s very easy to play quarterback from your sofa with instant replay and slow motion; it’s very, very difficult when life-and-death decisions have to be made in a nanosecond. The fact of the matter is if Jaime Gonzalez doesn’t bring a gun—of whatever sort—to school, if he doesn’t beat up a classmate, if he simply complies when the police tell him—again, repeatedly—to drop the gun, the police aren’t put in that situation and this never happens.


    I accept that it is a difficult job to be cop, I always say that, but it isn’t handicapping a police officer to hold them accountable for their actions and for them to stand by what they do. Your getting it twisted, they work for us, not the other way around. We have to question them; it’s our job as citizens! If Jaime hadn’t brought that gun to school that day he would still be alive today. We failed him. Jaime was the kid and we are the responsible adults and failed him by our lack of listening, by our lack of training, by our lack of structure and by our lack guidance.

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  34. • My heart goes out to Mr. and Mrs. Gonzalez; I wouldn’t wish the loss of a child on anyone. But it also must go out to the officers involved, who did what they had to do in a situation that afforded no time for contemplation, and no margin for error; they will have to live with Wednesday’s events for the rest of their lives.

    I believe that this entire situation makes you angry and you can’t quite figure out just where to put the blame. I believe you know that you don’t want these cops to be proven negligent, when that is possible. I believe you want to shake that heck out of that kid and say “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!?!?” And I believe that you would not be ready for the answer. I may not agree with all the things you had to say Sir, but as an American, I would die for your right to say them.

    Exercising my first Amendment rights since 1977 ~ Bobby Adopted

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  35. The kid messed up. And he paid for it. The Cops did everything text book. Let it be a lesson to every kid thinking of pulling the same stunt.

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  36. I am sorry that child lost his life, but
    The Police did what they were trained to do. He was ordered to drop his weapon and he refused.

    Parents teach your children well.
    RJP

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  37. Bobby, i was a weapons specialist in the military, I was trained by the best.. I left the military as a Lt. Ranger. I disagree with your comment about the weapon used.. their is no such thing or person that can look at a weapon at 30 20 or even 10 yards in stressful situations and be able to tell what type of gun it really is.. This is not the movies, its real life.. I agree with you most of your other statements, but u are doing the exact thing you were pointing out against the writer. No training in the world can prepare you for the situation those men or that young man went through..
    My respects to all parties involved..
    And my heart and prayers go out to the officers that had to make that decision in war we had to do the same, its something we have to live with for the rest of our lives,and no parent should have to out live their child..

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  38. oh and get this an 18 yr old yesterday brought and,shot a kid on the leg yestersay in a houston high school and a govt. Teacher ex cop tackled the dumb shooter and is in custody!!! A civilian mr. blogger, thats how its done!!!

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  39. So proud of the bravery of this two officers, thanks guys. The only people who committed a crime here are the parents, for not teaching their son right from wrong.

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  40. Rusty, you have hit the nail on the head one more time. Well written and researched, balanced. Too bad some of the above commentors fail to understand this whole tragedy was because Jaime Gonzalez made a series of very bad decisions.

    Your articles are read as far away as Warsaw.

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