A video released by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office in Texas of an officer involved shooting Feb. 3, should give every gun owner a little pause should they approach their front door or an open window while armed when things go bump in the night. It is more importantly a good warning to departments across the United States for training in the department of “don’t do this.”
In the video and from other news accounts, on Feb. 3 at around 2:10 a.m., police received a call from a woman who reported someone was inside her apartment. One deputy arrived and with and determined no intruder was inside the apartment and everything was okay. After a second deputy arrived to assist, a woman walked up to the female deputies and told them somebody had broken into another nearby apartment.
The deputies went to investigate the potential break-in, there they saw a front window screen removed, broken glass and the blinds raised near the front door. Here’s the video that shows what played out next.
While it’s genuinely hard to Monday morning quarterback a moment a person is in and the actions they take, even when watching video, this one will surely have many gun owners shaking their heads. The one deputy totally emptied both mags into the apartment, while the other appears to have only emptied one.
How many of us on this website, upon hearing someone beating on our door in the middle of the night, would go check it out unarmed? Not many I assure you. And to think you could just be shot for approaching the door with a gun for protection to check out who is beating at the door of your own home is pretty scary.
While the police did announce themselves, it’s unlikely the words “Sheriff’s Office” was heard or understood inside as it was shouted at the same time she was pounding and the two women inside were in the back of the apartment. Even the words may be hard to comprehend through a door and one commentor suggested on PolicePosts on Instagram, maybe they should’ve yelled “Police,” since that would be easier to understand.
In a short on YouTube’s Survival in the City channel, Massad Ayoob discusses the odds of who it is and what you should or shouldn’t carry if you hear beating on your door in the middle of the night, and says don’t open the door at all and odds are it will be the “local police,” so definitely don’t open it armed once you confirm that it is police.
There is no evidence to suggest the woman, who was a guest of the renter in the apartment, did anything but approach the door with a gun and was spotted through the open window by one of the deputies, who both began instantly shooting without warning.
A simple, “Police, drop the gun,” might’ve saved everyone a whole lot of trouble. Who knows?
The woman who was shot suffered multiple injuries to her legs and midsection but survived. Of course, she’s hired Ben Crump, the famed civil rights attorney, as her lawyer, which means Harris County is going to pay dearly on this one. Crump doesn’t take a case where there aren’t likely millions in civil litigation fees he can secure.
The two women did break in to the apartment because they had forgotten their key, but there is no law against breaking in to your own home.
As for the deputies, who also are both female, no charges have been filed yet and the case is still under investigation. Don’t think this is the last we will hear of this one…
