why did they even shoot him? all he did as steal soda from a store... next thing you know cops walk out of the vehicle with guns already out... cops need to be put in their place if this isnt enough evidence of that than idk what is

As unfortunate as it is, he brought it on himself and I think it was probably SBC (Suicide By Cop).

The officers responded to a theft call from the store (As confirmed by the posted video).
The subject, Kajieme Powell, was walking around in an strange fashion.

When he made contact with the officers he failed to comply with any of their commands. He continued to walk around and when he did take his hand out of his pocket he produced a knife.

He continued to disobey their commands and circled around to the left side of the car and began to advance on the officer that exited the passenger side. The officers continued to shout "Drop the knife!!!!" and the subject shouted "Shoot Me!!!".

Once he got within 5 to 6 feet I believe the officers had no choice but to engage.

If you allow someone with a deadly weapon, such as a knife, to get that close to you, you could be in some serious danger. Once the subject entered within 10 feet of the officers and failed to follow instructions he pretty much sealed his fate. Remember that Action is ALWAYS faster than reaction. Think about how long it would take you to react to someone that is that close to you and his only thought is to hurt you. Could you defend yourself with an absolute certainty? Would you be willing to bet your life on it? Do a search for "OODA Loop", it will help explain my point.

Now, as far as the amount of rounds that were fired into Mr Powell, there is a saying "If you are justified in shooting someone once, you are justified in shooting him 50 times." The point is that you shoot until the threat is stopped. If the officers believed that they were threatened then they were justified in shooting him until he was no longer a threat, at that point they were the only ones that could decide that. There are several case law precedents that talk about shootings and other deadly force scenarios. When you do think about it remember to take the emotion out of it.

In my opinion they were justified in what happened. Could they have used Less Lethal, probably, but the scenario played out pretty quick. No matter what happened their actions will now be taken apart for months by people and the system. Remember that some of your actions that only take seconds will be evaluated for months.

It might be found that the cause for Mr. Powell's erratic behavior was chemically induced, but I'm sure the autopsy will show if that is true.


Groovy

Do what you're told and you don't get shot. If the police try to arrest you just let them.

:O Your freedom though? Your precious freedom which might be taken away from you for 1 night?
Is it really worth getting shot over?

Casca wrote As unfortunate as it is, he brought it on himself and I think it was probably SBC (Suicide By Cop).

The officers responded to a theft call from the store (As confirmed by the posted video).
The subject, Kajieme Powell, was walking around in an strange fashion.

When he made contact with the officers he failed to comply with any of their commands. He continued to walk around and when he did take his hand out of his pocket he produced a knife.

He continued to disobey their commands and circled around to the left side of the car and began to advance on the officer that exited the passenger side. The officers continued to shout "Drop the knife!!!!" and the subject shouted "Shoot Me!!!".

Once he got within 5 to 6 feet I believe the officers had no choice but to engage.

If you allow someone with a deadly weapon, such as a knife, to get that close to you, you could be in some serious danger. Once the subject entered within 10 feet of the officers and failed to follow instructions he pretty much sealed his fate. Remember that Action is ALWAYS faster than reaction. Think about how long it would take you to react to someone that is that close to you and his only thought is to hurt you. Could you defend yourself with an absolute certainty? Would you be willing to bet your life on it? Do a search for "OODA Loop", it will help explain my point.

Now, as far as the amount of rounds that were fired into Mr Powell, there is a saying "If you are justified in shooting someone once, you are justified in shooting him 50 times." The point is that you shoot until the threat is stopped. If the officers believed that they were threatened then they were justified in shooting him until he was no longer a threat, at that point they were the only ones that could decide that. There are several case law precedents that talk about shootings and other deadly force scenarios. When you do think about it remember to take the emotion out of it.

In my opinion they were justified in what happened. Could they have used Less Lethal, probably, but the scenario played out pretty quick. No matter what happened their actions will now be taken apart for months by people and the system. Remember that some of your actions that only take seconds will be evaluated for months.

It might be found that the cause for Mr. Powell's erratic behavior was chemically induced, but I'm sure the autopsy will show if that is true.


Groovy

Although I do agree with you, they didn't have to shoot him 8 or 9 times. They could have shot him once or twice in the leg to disable him and than none of this would be happening.

Miss wrote
Although I do agree with you, they didn't have to shoot him 8 or 9 times. They could have shot him once or twice in the leg to disable him and than none of this would be happening.

In a perfect world, yes, a "wounding shot" would be the ideal way, but that is not practical. There are several things that need to be considered. When faced with this type of scenario all members of police,security and military are taught to aim "Center Mass", or aim for the largest object that you see. When faced with danger your brain will be moving at 100 MPH along with your heart and it is very hard to control yourself. You will have to rely on your training and muscle memory (The act of doing something repeatedly so many times that you do it without thinking, about 1500 times according to studies). If you have trained then you will automatically do what you have trained for, in this case:
Observe - See a man with a knife failing to follow your directions and is advancing on you
Orient - Position yourself in a proper posture to engage the individual and draw your weapon.
Decide - The individual continues to advance on you and is close enough to you to do you serious bodily harm = Engage the individual
Act - Pull the trigger until he is no longer a threat to you or anyone else

Most people can't hit the broad side of a barn with a pistol, especially when they are scared or in a stressful scenario so you aim for the center of the largest mass. Hitting an arm or leg, especially on a moving target is extremely hard. Also if you hit them in the leg, say in the thigh you run the risk or hitting the femoral artery, if you hit that, then he is dead anyways. Also you may not know if that person is on any narcotics like PHP or Meth. There have been some cases where it has taken multiple rounds, like 10-15 to bring someone down. People argue for days and months over which is the best caliber (9mm, 40S&W,.45 ACP...etc) and which is the best type of ammo to use.

Another thing to consider is danger to innocent third parties. When involved with a shooting scenario the cop/security/soldier has to "Clear Deep" which is a way of saying that you have to look past your target and ensure that you will not hit anyone behind your target if 1. you miss or 2. you have over penetration with your ammo (it does happen). Consider that Police engage a subject and miss and hit a mother of 3 who is shopping for some milk. The lawsuits would be enormous.

Training is another item to consider. The time and money that it would take to get every single member of every agency to a skill proficiency in shooting that would be able to shoot to wound is impractical. No one has the budget or time.

As to the real reason they fired so many times at him, only they can tell you that. I believe that they felt that he was still a threat. Sometimes when a person is dying they still have forward momentum or their body does involuntary actions that are considered to be a threat. A study will come out on how many shots were fired and by whom will show the specifics. Believe it or not the shot to hit ratio in LEA involved shootings is pretty low. Please have a look at the link below and see what this study shows about how many times subjects are hit in shoots VS how many shots are fired by police. I don't know when this study was done.
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I'v said it before and I'll say it again, American Police are the most disgraceful police in the world, shooting and killing people over pity crimes while murders are on the run around America.

IRB wrote I'v said it before and I'll say it again, American Police are the most disgraceful police in the world, shooting and killing people over pity crimes while murders are on the run around America.

Not really some other places in the world are way worst.I read a story about some country allows pretty much Police Brutality.

They clearly was threatened but its not the point like they kept saying he could of tazed him or atleast shot him in the leg but no 11 bullets! Even whilst he was falling.


~Rings

The cops made the right decision.

For starters, he was a lowly criminal who just robbed a store, and then continued to threaten the lives of 2 cops minutes later.

I honestly can't believe people when they say he didn't deserve this.