San Jose woman brandishing a power drill (courtesy abcnews7.com)

“San Jose police received a report that a woman was threatening to kill her family with an Uzi assault weapon,” reuters.com reports. “When they arrived at the family’s home, they saw the woman outside, holding what they thought was a weapon. [ED: a cordless drill painted flat black.] Officers asked her to drop it, but she did not, pointing it at them instead.” Click here for the edited video. Anyway, that was the end of that. “One of the officers, Wakana Okuma, shot the woman, who was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead. San Jose Police spokeswoman Heather Randol said Okuma, who has been placed on administrative leave, ‘feared for her safety and the safety of the public’ when she shot the woman.” You know the drill: “The shooting is being investigated by San Jose homicide detectives.” Perhaps a pair of binoculars would have prevented the ballistic solution. Even so, it seems like an unfortunate, but good shoot, no? [h/t JK]

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155 COMMENTS

  1. If they were so far away to not be able to tell a drill and a firearm apart, maybe they should get closer before shooting.
    Just my thoughts.

    • Easy to say after the fact. But this wasn’t a case of a cop just rolling up and shooting someone who was minding their business in their own yard holding a drill. The police went in to a situation with a report of an armed woman threatening to kill people. The drill had been painted black to look more like a gun, and not only did she refuse to drop it, she pointed it at the cops. In that scenario, I probably wouldn’t have waited to get closer, either.

      Seems like a clear cut “suicide by cop” case to me.

        • Well if you click the link they have a photo of it, and or is completely painted black. Black and Decker doesn’t have a all black option.

      • Gee, you’d think with all the military gear they sport these days they could at least have found a cheap pair of binoculars…you know, so they could determine the nature of the “weapon” without getting too close, and they could resolve the situation and return safely to their families,,,,

        • And if a shooter killed an innocent person while the cops were peeking at him through binocs, you’d be complaining that they should have been in there “engaging the threat”…

        • To Stinky: You’re right. I would have complained about that, and I’ll complain any time they don’t do their job professionally. Get it?

      • Im with Stinky on this one. Seems like she had a death wish. Cant say I really blame the officer for his reaction either.

        • And just happened to be brandishing/pointing a cordless drill at approaching police? Does not seem like the most likely scenario.

      • Everyone points out how easy it is to make a gun wether a machinist, a 3d printer, or good ole American know-how….

        If you call it a gun, and aim it like a gun, expect to be treated as if you have a gun.

        Y’all can’t have it both ways, its not always police-gone-amok…. legit shot, and I hope Ofc. Okuma gets over what (s)he did with speed, coz any of us armchair commandos would’ve done the exact same thing.

    • If someone were pointing it at you, your friends, or a family member, would you move closer to the subject and make it easier for them to shoot you? Remember, there was a report of someone threatening to harm innocent people who did not respond to officer’s demands, who was pointing something that really does resemble an uzi at other officers.

      Although hindsight says it would suck, I would have made the shot as well. It’s not just about my safety, but those around me as well.

      • Who knows.
        However, if they showed up to protect the family, being 2 houses down wouldn’t help them.
        Also, watch the video. In the heat of the moment they might not have thought about it, but she is very clearly holding a power drill (the camera quality sucks, but I doubt their eyes did)

        • When pulling up on a call, especially one involving someone a gun around, you don’t park in front of the house you park a few houses down so your car doesn’t become your coffin

      • I wouldn’t, but then I’m not a police officer – I’m not specifically paid to risk my life for the benefit of other citizens, but cops are.

        • I seem to specifically remember numerous cases where courts ruled that police have no specific duty to protect anyone’s life. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t.

          Regardless, one has to believe if the lady dropped the drill and reached for the sky at the first sign of the police, she’d would be wearing an orange jumpsuit and sleeping on a hard bed right about now.

          As it was, she decided her own fate by saying it was a gun and then pointing it at another armed human, cop or not.

        • @Jack

          Police have no legal obligation and cannot be held liable in many cases, but that does not lessen the fact that their job is often to do just that.

    • Gee, I have several cordless drills, none of them resemble an Uzi or a firearm. Idiots. That said, they seem to be able to get away with justifying a shoot due to someone holding anything in their hand so why should this be any different. It is getting to the point where we are justified in being in fear of our lives, by there mere presence, when the police show up. I bet they will be exonerated in this case also.

  3. This was a clear cut case of suicide by cop.
    Other than the fact she was waving an assault drill around in an aggressive manner it almost isn’t news worthy.

    The tragedy is that the LEO involved probably will have their career finished thanks to the suicidal tendencies of another.

    • This was obviously suicide-by-cop, so they can’t pin it on the cop. Still.

      I bet there’s much more to that particular officer’s 13 year background than the original report mentions. That cop took this shot because she just wanted to kill someone, which makes it murder. Even from the grainy, shaky cell phone video, you can tell it’s a drill. I guarantee there are some sketchy encounters in that cop’s background.

      And, yes, this is an example of a case where they could have shot her in the leg or with a less lethal weapon. Now, were I on the review panel, based on the video above, there’s no way to say absolutely conclusively that it went down like that or what was in the cop’s mind. So you can’t actually hold the cop accountable for what she really did; but we all know. That’s a rogue, murderous cop who shouldn’t be anywhere near a badge and a gun. She’ll be emboldened by being vindicated in this shoot. Next time, and there will be a next time, her subsequent overconfidence will get her into serious and inescapable trouble.

      • I’m glad you’re so omnipotent that you know what’s in another person’s heart. Must be gratifying to have such divine insight and the arrogance to display it.

      • There will be no next time for her, she is dead. I admit it does resemble a power drill, but I have to wonder, is that because I knew what it was before I watched the video? For an officer arriving on the scene, with reports of a firearm, perhaps he saw what he expected to see? If you truly believe her to be armed with a firearm, you do not dare try a less than lethal shot. At that distance, had she had a knife or other contact weapon, sure. But not a gun. Just my opinion…

      • You might want to turn the sarcasm flag on, there. Assuming it IS sarcasm. I hope it was sarcasm. It’s really hard to tell these days.

      • ” That cop took this shot because she just wanted to kill someone,”

        You don’t know that. I’d like to see you try and get all buddy buddy with someone as they draw and point a gun shaped object at you. You’d draw and shoot too if you had any sense of self preservation.

      • Can’t tell if you’re trying to be funny or sarcastic or what. It has to be something like that because you can’t really believe what you wrote.

      • “this is an example of a case where they could have shot her in the leg or with a less lethal weapon.”

        Wow. You win the most ignorant post of the year award. Shoot someone in the leg…. wow…. movies much?

      • Talking about shooting someone in the leg indicates that you have no clue what you are talking about. Ignorant people think that shooting someone in the leg is a good thing. People with any knowledge know that A) Legs are a much harder target to hit than center mass and B) Getting shot in the leg can kill you anyway.

        Nobody trains to shoot people in the legs.

      • Jonathan, I dont know all the facts on this, other than what press has reported, which we’ve learned enough times here at TTAG is often wrong, or misleading.

        Then, may I respectfully suggest that
        your comments about the cop; “rogue, murderous, guarantee backgroun, because she wanted to kill someone…”

        IMHO go beyond snark, or speculation, or mind-reading, to borderline slander.

        I get that some here have a hard-on for cops in general, or a righteous anger for individual exceptions acting like “gun-bullies”, but seriously, this goes too far, and I for one, want to point out thats not what TTAG is about, “the clean, well lit room” for rational discussion about gun culture.

        Unless you know facts about this officer, beyond media reports on this shooting, I’d just suggest you that you are undermining your claim to be “an intelligent, thinking, reading, educated man” back in Feb.
        http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2014/02/dean-weingarten/sc-governor-haley-supports-constitutional-carry/

  4. Definitely looks like suicide by cop to me.

    If I’m armed and someone points a gun-shaped object at me, I’m not going to hang around to see if it’s a real gun or a fake.

  10. What a shame, she was probably just turning her life around.

    It was probably less justified that the shooting of Michael Brown. No one was in imminent danger but since there will be no rioting the assembled multitude will not form a virtual mob and rage against police militarization.

  11. I saw this video elsewhere before here and before I read it was a power drill. I thought it looked like a power drill.

    • The terminology is blurry, as a hand braces breast drills are the only “powerless” drills and gasoline-powered drills aren’t electric. Battery-powered drills may be called electric, by the way, as they are in fact electrically powered.

      Anyway, the drill in the video had no cord, no hand crank and no fuel tank.

      • Note to self: comment editor sucks.

        “… as push drills, wheel drills, hand braces and breast drills …”

        • Have you been drinking?

          Wait, let me guess! “Drinking water? Drinking coffee? What kind of drinking could you possibly mean? I’m trying so hard to be obtuse!”

  12. Perhaps a pair of binoculars would have prevented the ballistic solution.

    Or a scope on a rifle?

  14. There’s cases where LEO might have taken a shot when they shouldn’t have.

    This ain’t one of them. If someone points a black, gun looking object at me after I’ve clearly demonstrated that I’m armed, the likely consequence will be the actor receiving lead from my own weapon. What sane person points a gun shaped object at armed police after being told to drop said object?

  15. Don’t automatically think all these types of shots are super good shots. You have to understand that there is a requisite “bleed out ” time added to the shoot. That is where the cops stand around and deny medical assistance to the shootee letting them bleed out. This way even a crappy marksman can get a confirmed kill on his resume.

    • When people are calling it a “good shoot” – they’re referring to the circumstances of the shooting – not the marksmanship of the individual(s) invloved.

      Lady pointed weaponlike object at police – refused police commands to drop it. Suspect got ventillated. That was the “good” shoot.

      When the police tell you to put the weapon down – Best put the weapon down… Slowly. and gently and calmly as you possibly can.

      • I tried very carefully to distinguish btw shoot and shot. My point was that folks tend to think in these circumstances SWAT super marksman use precise skills to put down the supposed BG. Common knowledge in the precinct house is that you let the shootee die on the sidewalk. You hold up any medical assistance while you “secure ” the area. That takes as long as it takes for life to leave the body. You do get the point don’t you ?

    • Yeah I could see this being a bad shoot if the cops just showed up guns blazing and no warnings given. Had I been pretending to use a drill as a gun and the cops show up, I would immediately set the drill down and lay face down spread eagle till I don’t get shot.

  18. SO what happend to police talking to frantic people waving guns around? Seems to me that they used to spend a lot of time talking them down. Now it’s GUN! BANG! Problem solved.

    • Jeez I kinda remember that too…..

      …. back in the day when a cop only wore just an undershirt and a blue shirt sleeve dress shirt.
      …. back in the days when cops were 100% male
      …. back in the days when their first response was pulling a baton rather than their Glock
      …. back in the day when ROE knew a man’s arm was behind a swinging baton

      …and before the day that all the police agencies had to change their ROE to enable new politically hired 90# girls named Tiffiney to be cops and to survive an encounter with the average street thug. Suddenly step #1 in the ROE is to pull their firearm.

    • Yeah, I thought they got the MRAPs and other heavy equipment so they could, you know, negotiate more safely and wouldn’t have to resort to shooting so much. Maybe the MRAP was in the shop that day….

  19. They *do* say power tools kill more people than assault rifles every year. In this case, death by Dewalt.

  20. She tried to stop the bleeding after shooting her? I thought cops use handcuffs after shooting someone.
    I learned in my CCW class that if you shoot someone, no rendering first aid. If you ask for bullets, you’ll get it.

    • The reporter said they thought the cops had his hands on her chest, but it didn’t look like they were doing CPR. I’ve heard of cheap ways of “coping a feel”, but this would be pretty low!

      • To Gunr, standard first Aid for “bleeding” is put pressure on the wound, CPR with active bleeding can make things worse, as the compression will only serve to pour more blood on the ground.

        To Bernard: True that in most cases a CCW does not have a duty to render aid… But remember while a CCW doesn’t make you a cop – cops also have different responsibilities. Like the duty to render aid, where they can safely. She had been “disabled” already, like they also told you in your CCW shoot to stop the threat – the threat was stopped; what did they lose by trying to control the bleeding? Absolutely nothing – plus at that point, they probably realized it was a “fake gun”.

    • Handcuff if necessary, otherwise at least check for secondary weapons. Either way, render first aid as best as possible until the real paramedics get there.

    • CCW class teaches no first aid after a shoot? What was the reason they gave?

      I would think that a prosecutor could use the lack of rendering aid to paint a picture of a CCW-er as a cold hearted killer. Besides, if you are only shooting to stop a threat, and you’ve stopped the threat, why not render aid if you can safely do so? If you haven’t stopped the threat, why are you still there?

      Please, no comments about someone getting what they deserved. If you said that to the police after a DGU, or in court, you would almost guarantee your own conviction and a smack in the head from your attorney.

      • Nope. Instructor asked me if I was a doctor or CPR-certified. I was neither. It’s a bad idea to render first aid especially if you don’t know what the hell you’re doing. What if his/her friend is waiting in a car for second strike? So are you actually safe, or do you only think you’re safe?
        And you should remain silent until you have an attorney present. Armed citizens (or CCW’ers for this matter) understand that there are legal, social, economic, etc. consequences after a DGU.

        • And on top of that. A lawyer can spin that into you attempting to provide aid because you felt remorseful or unjustified in the shooting
          “I wasn’t sure if the assailant was still a threat, and was still in fear for my safety.”
          “I wasn’t sure if the assailant had a blood-borne illness.” (I don’t know their medical history whether it’d be HIV, HBV, HCV)
          “I felt that attempting to provide aid would injure the assailant further. I felt the threat had been stopped and did not want to cause further injury.”.
          Do you want to be the guy leaning over a bloody body when police arrive?
          You can’t do much without medical equipment except applying pressure.

  21. Far enough away to misidentify a drill as a gun, yet still able to make the shot. Seems like this cop could teach NYPD a thing or too.

    • That’s kinda what I was thinking. I’ve got to be a good 100 yards away to not recognize a cordless drill for what it is. A single shot kill from that distance with a handgun ain’t easy.

  22. The problem here is twofold:

    1. Mentally ill people.

    2. Cop not understanding one handed shots as you bring down the “gun” and aim it at someone is very, very difficult to hit a small target even close while waving it around.

    Can’t fault the cop for shooting as it could have been a gun disguised as a power drill. But, cops need more training.

    Did it ever occur to these cops to contact a family member to find out if she had mental problems?

    I could provide more dumb speculation but . . . . . have I mentioned that the police WILL kill you?

  24. So her family or somebody in the apartment called the cops and was unable to tell a drill from an Uzi from a few feet away. WTF. I blame the morons who called the police, they had a lot better look at the “WEAPON” than than the cops did.

  25. I’m glad the girl didn’t have a real gun. She definitely had some problems going on there.
    Many police just aren’t gun people. The officer in question really may not know the difference between a UZI and a cordless drill. A cordless drill looks much more like a gun from the chuck end than from the side. In any case, the shot I heard in the video didn’t sound “Glockish” to me.

    On a different note, I never thought I’d be in a gun buy-back line but I’ve got several broke cordless drills I’d be willing to trade for a walmart gift card.

  26. Note that there was nobody else home. Taken with the line about “San Jose police received a report that a woman was threatening to kill her family with an Uzi assault weapon,” it looks like either there was a screwup and the cops were sent to the wrong address, or else whoever made the call committed murder using the cops as a weapon.

  28. I’m going with suicide by cop with mitigating circumstances.

    I’m with the OP who called out the moron who described a drill as an Uzi. That’s the mitigation.

    If you’re stressed when you arrive and were told there’s an Uzi beforehand and you don’t know what you’re looking at when you get there, you’re going to see an Uzi. Unless the object is bright purple and has flowers and rainbows coming out of it. I don’t blame the cops – they were pre-programmed to see an Uzi in the woman’s hand. Tragic, but explainable.

  30. Yeah, most people cannot tell a drill from a sub machine gun, just as most people cannot tell a border collie from a pit bull. Good shot! Blaze away! At least that cop knew she would be going home that night.

  31. Terrific. Guess we’re NOW going to have to get a PERMIT to carry a DRILL. WTF. Suicide by cop? Guess we’ll never know. No offense to all you law enforcement professionals with common frickin’ sense, but why would a trained police officer be threatened by a crazy red-head standing in her front yard holding a DRILL? Now, if she’d been holding a nail gun? Yeah, I’d get that. But??? What happened to bringing in a “negotiator”? “Violence interrupter”?

  32. Are they absolutely telling the truth when they say the drill was “painted” flat black? There are a lot of drills that ARE black plastic.

    • Probably painted, else a manufacturing mark, model number or logo would’ve shown.

      The drill pictured at the news site was featureless.

      Or it’s a mistake, but that’s not likely. Truth, methinks.

      • I c an barely make out the fact that her tshirt has a huge logo on it, how can you see that the drill is featureless in the video?

  34. Is it possible she was just trying to inform the officers that its just a cordless drill? I see her left arm was raise up.

  35. Anytime the wrong person gets shot, things could have been done better but it sure is easier to figure it out afterwards. I feel bad for everyone involved.

  36. In that circumstance, I’d have fired one into the ground in the hope that she’d then follow instructions. She looked drunk or playful, and most Uzis aren’t full-auto capable; her failure to toss and drop immediately would’ve then gotten her shot.

    Granted, I might be biased because where I live that’s legal. Hold on ••• O.K, I’m back; I just put three rounds of 7.62x54r into a 3′ cottonwood log in the north part of my yard. Noone will call it in, and should a deputy have heard it – possible, as Mosins aren’t stealthy – they’ll pay it no mind.

    Hate to say it, but even from seventy or eighty feet “near,” I’d have taken no more chances.

    There are enough weapons that look enough like that to muddy the waters, y’know? I’d have aimed at lower centre of mass because a gut shot is less likely to be lethal but still effective and reliable, but I’d have shot her without qualm.

    I’m aware that warning shots are frowned upon in most circles, but under certain circumstances that’s how I roll.

    Sorry for her peeps; they lost a – whatever she was. More sorry for the cop, though; I hope she doesn’t take lead some day due to hesitation at the memory of this.

    • Humour is a defensive and compensatory mechanism.

      Every non-bad-guy that gets shot can be a wedge against our freedoms, and every bad cop [no, I don’t think this cop is bad] scares us as well.

      We may be morbid, but it keeps us sane in a world that can be pretty damned problematic.

  38. Ok I wasn’t a cop there.
    But any idiot not under duress.
    Can tell from that video. Given the distance it was taken at.
    It is a battery powered drill.

    The only excuse Id give the Cop that shot the girl.
    Total ignorance of power tools, and maybe just a tad of stress.
    An Uzi??
    My ass………………

  40. A decent pair of binoculars seems cheap compared to a priceless human life, no? But, let’s not give anybody any bright ideas.

    • Next time…
      Reporter: Chief, why did officers waste minutes finding a pair of binoculars in their car from hundreds of feet away instead of stopping the woman from killing her husband and child after they were warned she was armed?

      Chief: Well, uh, we thought maybe she had a cordless drill instead.

      Reporter: Are you @#$^ing kidding me?

  41. Not one cop could in that situation couldn’t recognize that as a cordless drill? Puh-leeeeese. They didn’t want to see a cordless drill.

  43. Sounds legit to me. If a gunish object is aimed at me, I would likely not try to establish if the slide says Smith & Wesson or Black & Decker. No different than Billy Badass trying to rob a convenience store with a pellet pistol. If you don’t care the guns pointed at you ARE real, something is wrong, and I’m sorry, but you lose.

  44. Tragic, but does it seem at all prudent to be aiming a power drill as if it were a pistol outside of your home? That’s just nutzoid behavior. It ought to be telling and sad when they release an autopsy and see what kind of meds she was on.

  45. I’m skeptical if total due diligence was done here, I am of the mind that the drill could have been seen beforehand if proper surveillance and recon of the scene was done. I’m sure they probably had some wannabe snipers scoping. This one I’m willing to let slide as a normal screwup and not a systemic one from the gung-ho Chuck Norris policing dimension. But one to be learned from and next time it will be stupidity via MRAP of the brain.

    • You’re assuming that the police took the time do call out a sniper (there’s not one on every block) when they have a warning that this woman is about to kill her family?

  46. Here’s something new to chew on. Just supposing, and I’ll admit it’s a real stretch, suppose somebody made a makeshift real gun out of that drill motor. Wouldn’t be that hard to do. I could do it in a couple of afternoons.
    Just remove the innards and slip in a barrel and receiver. A little more time and you might even be able to get a revolver in there, after cutting away the grip part of the frame. Or just cut enough of the grip away as to fit inside the drill grip.
    You could then take the innards out of the chuck and slip the chuck body over the end of the barrel. As I said, it’s a stretch!
    The next time somebody points a drill motor at you, take a good look!

  47. Could be a drill, could be a zip gun. I’m inclined to think I would shoot also, based upon the circumstances. Then again, I wasn’t there, so I can also reserve judgement.

  48. The cops were told there was a woman armed with an Uzi that threatened to kill her family, police roll up and find the woman standing outside facing them with an object that from a short distance basically fits the general description of an Uzi and then she points it at you. I would have been scared to death because she is said to have an Uzi and there she is pointing it at me and I only have seconds to live unless I kill her first so I would have shot her and probably felt very guilty and very sad that I shot an unarmed woman but it was still a justified shooting and I would never forget the incident as one of the worst experiences of my life.

    • I saw some really crappy cell phone video shot from across the street, and I knew it wasn’t at all UZI like, the magazine was coming out of the bottom of the rear grip.
      I would have guessed it was some large Glock model with a 33rd mag hanging out the bottom of it.

      I hope that if I were 15′ away as the shooter is said to have been, it would have occurred to me that the “slide” was too damn big and too damn round to be any pistol I’d ever seen, but I probably wouldn’t have immediately figured out that I was looking at a keyless chuck with a drill motor behind it.

  51. II’m a bit disturbed by those who say “this is a clear case of suicide by cop.” How do you know this woman didn’t have mental illness issues?

    Some folks jump to conclusions way too easily. As far as I know, none of us have enough information to make a unwavering conclusion as to what the full story was regarding this event.

      • I’m not making the assumption that they are. Yes, it’s possible that she was both mentally ill and suicidal. It’s also possible that she was mentally ill and NOT suicidal.

        You essentially just proved my point about jumping to conclusions. You assumed that my comment regarding “having mental issues” automatically means that I am suggesting that it isn’t possible for someone to be mentally ill and suicidal. You made an assumption based on incomplete information.

    • Yep, as soon as the gun, or in this case a drill motor, comes out of the holster, everything changes.

  53. Seriously did people look at that video? This was not a spur of the moment coming around the corner incident. Bunch of cop cars on scene and nobody could see observe that the object was very un-gun like? None of these “professionals” are familiar with the idea of suicide-by-cop scenario?

    Yet another example of the implications of the official policy that prohibits the hiring of cops with a high IQ.

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/court-oks-barring-high-iqs-cops/story?id=95836

  56. I have seen a number of homemade stamped recieved weapons that look similar enough to a flat black drill/driver that I wouldn’t have taken any chances. Although If the officer was intelligent and using their wits and not just looking for an excuse to shoot somebody, they might be able to realize that the obviously troubled (from calls/behavior) young woman probably wouldn’t even know how to use a gun like the one she was displaying (if it was even a functioning and loaded weapon). Put a shot down at her feet to reduce the chance of missing and hitting something else and watch her toss the object and either fall or run.

  57. Are you freaking kidding me? Anyone with half a brain could tell that wasn’t a gun. I would have walked up to her and placed her under arrest for wasting my time if I was a cop.

  58. Good shoot, as far as the video and currently available facts show. It was easy to tell she was holding a drill, but I watched the video already knowing she had a drill. The cops didn’t know that. The cops told her to drop it. She didn’t. Sure looks like suicide by cop to me.

  60. This falls in the “lack of proper training” and “too anxious to think properly” (brain lock). All police officers should be taught to observe and assess a situation before taking any action. If a suspect is armed or you think he or she is armed, try to get cover first. If the situation calls for the use of a gun then take your weapon out of its holster and be prepared. It seems that this officer was not mentally prepared to do her job or think clearly. That being the case, why is she in the police force? Well, the answer is simple, she thought that being a cop was a good idea at the time without thinking it through. This stock answer that she was “afraid for her life” is what they are taught to say at during police training. They are also taught they can justify almost anything that involves gun play on their part and come out smelling like a rose in court. Better them than me is the mental attitude. A good police officer, thinks over these scenarios all the time in order to avoid a bad shooting or increase the possibility of a good a outcome. Mental preparation ahead of a situation at least allows you to think in a more logical way. This gunslinger attitude by many police officers comes from the top. The most important tool for a police officer is not his gun but a well trained brain. Like I stated before, training is paramount.

  62. It amazes me how many people are so quick to condemn the police officer. None of you were at the scene. None of you had your lives at risk. Not all the facts are known. It is possible that the woman could have altered that drill to be some type of a weapon. How would any of the officers know otherwise? And if they had waited, and the woman had injured another person, how many of you would be condemning the police for NOT acting?

    She was told to drop the weapon; she did not. Ultimately, who’s responsible for that woman’s actions? She was. She kept the weapon in her hand, waved it around, and pointed it at the officers.

    I don’t know what any of those involved was thinking. Instead of so much venomous judgement, how about you step back and put yourself in the officer’s position. Police don’t always have the luxury of ‘finding a pair of binoculars’ as some are suggesting. They can’t always get close to a suspect or reason with one. Based on the information the officers were given, I’d say they reacted properly. Hindsight is a glorious thing when passing judgement on others.

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