Man Gunned Down by Police in Walmart While Shopping for Air Gun

[Hum]

On Tuesday, August 5 2014, 22 year old John Crawford was shot and killed by police, in an Ohio Walmart store. Crawford speaking to the mother of his children on his cell phone when police shot him down. LeeCee Johnson, the mother of his children, told WHIO:

?We was just talking. He said he was at the video games playing videos and he went over there by the toy section where the toy guns were. And the next thing I know, he said ?It?s not real,? and the police start shooting and they said ?Get on the ground,? but he was already on the ground because they had shot him,? Johnson said.

    ?And I could hear him just crying and screaming. I feel like they shot him down like he was not even human.?

Prior to the shooting a 911 caller, Ronald Ritchie, reported seeing a black man with a gun at the Beaver Creek Walmart. He claimed that the man was pointing the gun at people, including small children.

On Wednesday, August 6, a day after the fatal shooting, the state?s Attorney General?s office reported that the gun was not real. It was an air gun of the same make and model that Walmart sells in their stores.

In an interview with Newscenter 7, Ritchie told reporters that he saw Crawford fall to the ground, then try to get up and ?go for either the officer or try to grab the gun again.? That interview was conducted before the AG?s announcement that the gun was not real.

Oddly enough, at the time of the shooting, Ronald Ritchie told the 911 operator that he couldn?t tell what was happening. At one point during the call he said that Crawford was ?down,? then he claimed that Crawford was running away, then he stated that he ?heard? that Crawford was running. Then he stated he didn?t know. Listen to the 911 calls here.

According to local media, April Ritchie, Ronald Ritchie?s wife, said Crawford was holding his phone between his ear and his shoulder, while also moving the rifle around. ?He just kept messing with it and I heard it clicking,? she said in an interview on the day of the shooting.

While the Ritchie?s claim that other shoppers felt threatened by Crawford, it appears that Ritchie was the only Walmart shopper to call 911.

The Ritchie?s were more than likely seeing a man who was thinking about buying an air gun. Crawford was probably ?messing with it? to see how and if it was worth buying. He probably never realized that there were at least two people in the store who thought the gun was real, until the police came at him.

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[DocM]

Poorly informed panicky idiots on the 911 and trigger happy cops. Wonderful mix.

Ohio is an open carry state, meaning even if it were real it shouldn't have been an issue. Time for their Attorney General and state police commandant to issue notices to every officer like Michigan's did.

Lawsuits will flow like the spice.

[theyarecomingforyou]

The police officer(s) responsible should lose their jobs and be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. It is absolutely unacceptable the way that US police officers abuse their power and gun down suspects without a second thought.

 

Even if it had been a real gun he should have been brought in alive.

[Rippleman]

it would have been easier for everyone if he just put it down.... guessing, don't know for sure, but strong feeling.

[+JHBrown Subscriber¹]

Seriously sad story. Cops have very dangerous jobs and their jobs are similar to ours in the military. However, there are far to many trigger happy, crooked, racist cops in this country. They need to be weeded out. I couldn't imagine being on the phone with my child and hear all of this going on. There's a good reason why many cops are hated in the United States. You have men and women in uniform who have no business carrying a deadly weapon.

[theyarecomingforyou]

it would have been easier for everyone if he just put it down....

Yeah, let's blame the innocent victim.  :rolleyes:

[Rippleman]

Yeah, let's blame the innocent victim.  :rolleyes:

 

why do you blame the victim? Let me rephrase: "it would have been easier for everyone if the victim just put it down...."

 

blame is a complex set of actions and reactions where, if, anyone of said actions and reactions were to be changed it could result in a different outcome.

[Mr. Gibs]

The cops shooting before making sure is one thing that needs to be severely dealt with.

The other is the moronic idiot who called 911. If I was a cop and I got that call I would also end up thinking that someone in WalMart is trying to kill children. The guy is running, oh wait no he isn't, hes got a rifle and you can hear the clicking etc. He tried to get up and go for the officer or the gun and so on.

[macrosslover]

The cops shooting before making sure is one thing that needs to be severely dealt with.

The other is the moronic idiot who called 911. If I was a cop and I got that call I would also end up thinking that someone in WalMart is trying to kill children. The guy is running, oh wait no he isn't, hes got a rifle and you can hear the clicking etc. He tried to get up and go for the officer or the gun and so on.

Let's watch the video to prove the cops did shoot first without giving him an opportunity to put the gun down.  However this is one of those calls that probably should have never been called in.  If he had a gun at Wal-Mart (which sells guns) and he wasn't trying to rob the store, he was in the back, then chances are he's buying a gun or has no intention of robbing the store.  If that person who called 911 lied when they said he pointed the gun at people then they need to be charged for false a report of a crime.

 

If the cops did shoot without even giving him a chance to comply then they need to be fired.  I understand it's a dangerous job, but this did not seem to be a robbery in progress, so there was likely an opportunity for him to be able to comply with their demands.  I'll tackle the elephant in the room.  I'm sure if this customer was white, the caller might not have been so quick to dial 911.

[PsYcHoKiLLa]

That's what happens when you don't restrict guns and sell toy guns that look exactly like the real thing although it takes a special kind of moron not to be able to know it was fake in the toy section...and that moron is called Ronald Ritchie. His name should become synonymous with racial stereotyping.

[xendrome]

The police officer(s) responsible should lose their jobs and be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. It is absolutely unacceptable the way that US police officers abuse their power and gun down suspects without a second thought.

 

Even if it had been a real gun he should have been brought in alive.

 

It's interesting how you always generalize ALL police officers as abusing their power and then how you think someone with a gun should under ALL circumstances be taken in alive, at the cost of how many civilian and police officers doing their job. MOST Police and Security officers are good people, doing their job and barely making it by risking their lives for $12 to $15 an hour.

 

It's disrespectful of you to talk like that towards those people that are protecting your home, family and country (military included) for what they get paid and benefits.

[Hum]

I would not want to shop in that store again.

[thejohnnyq]

The COPS did the right thing here.  The guy refused to put the gun down and the witnesses stated.  

 

The idiot was pointing the gun at people and making shooting sounds according to the eye witness.  The local news (Cincinnati) had great coverage of it.  

[Wyn6]

The COPS did the right thing here.  The guy refused to put the gun down and the witnesses stated.  

 

The idiot was pointing the gun at people and making shooting sounds according to the eye witness.  The local news (Cincinnati) had great coverage of it.  

Because, news coverage is always 100% accurate. The entire story will come out soon enough.

[COKid]

You have men and women in uniform who have no business carrying a deadly weapon.

 

And plenty out of uniform, as well.

[Anibal P]

And plenty out of uniform, as well.

 

I'd trust the average civilian gun owner over a police officer any day, and I know both types

[xrobwx71]

That's what happens when you don't restrict guns and sell toy guns that look exactly like the real thing although it takes a special kind of moron not to be able to know it was fake in the toy section...and that moron is called Ronald Ritchie. His name should become synonymous with racial stereotyping.

Actually, all the toy guns are supposed to have a bright day glo orange tip at the barrel exit end. 

Like:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Crosman-Pulse-R75-Airsoft-AEG-Repeater/14234807

[Nagisan]

The COPS did the right thing here.  The guy refused to put the gun down and the witnesses stated.  

 

The idiot was pointing the gun at people and making shooting sounds according to the eye witness.  The local news (Cincinnati) had great coverage of it.  

 

Can't the cops just ask the NSA for a copy of the phone call and hear everything to guy did while he was on the phone?

 

And none of the eye witnesses in the story said he was making shooting sounds. One of them said they could hear the gun clicking as he was examining it.

 

If anything, hearing it click is simply proof it is unloaded and was no danger (assuming the clicking was the hammer hitting the firing pin).

[theyarecomingforyou]

 

It's interesting how you always generalize ALL police officers as abusing their power and then how you think someone with a gun should under ALL circumstances be taken in alive, at the cost of how many civilian and police officers doing their job.

You're mistaken. I have never said ALL police officers abuse their power and that ALL suspects should be brought in alive without regards to the safety of the public and/or police officers, as that is patently absurd. What I have said is that there is a systemic problem with policing in the US and the way that suspects are treated, where there is so little regard for the lives of suspects that police officers can gun them down without consequence. Very few officers ever face disciplinary action and those that do usually have it overturned on appeal due to the power of police unions.

 

The rate at which police officers in the US gun down suspects is outrageous.

 

The COPS did the right thing here.  The guy refused to put the gun down and the witnesses stated.  

 

The idiot was pointing the gun at people and making shooting sounds according to the eye witness.  The local news (Cincinnati) had great coverage of it.  

Disobeying police officers is not a capital offence. Police officers have an obligation to bring suspects in alive wherever practicable. Further, nothing in the article we are discussing supports that account of events. That's not to say that's not what happened but we can't discuss what we don't have a source for. In the article we're commenting on it says he was shot after telling officers the gun wasn't real, which is outrageous if true.

 

Either way an unarmed man who posed no danger to the public was killed. That CANNOT be the 'right thing'.

[Rippleman]

I'd trust the average civilian gun owner over a police officer any day, and I know both types

 

could be different in the US, but here, I would trust the police over a citizen packing a gun. Having said that, police rarely (if ever) have to use their firearm... different culture.

[thejohnnyq]

 

 

You're mistaken. I have never said ALL police officers abuse their power and that ALL suspects should be brought in alive without regards to the safety of the public and/or police officers, as that is patently absurd. What I have said is that there is a systemic problem with policing in the US and the way that suspects are treated, where there is so little regard for the lives of suspects that police officers can gun them down without consequence. Very few officers ever face disciplinary action and those that do usually have it overturned on appeal due to the power of police unions.

 

The rate at which police officers in the US gun down suspects is outrageous.

 

 

Disobeying police officers is not a capital offence. Police officers have an obligation to bring suspects in alive wherever practicable. Further, nothing in the article we are discussing supports that account of events. That's not to say that's not what happened but we can't discuss what we don't have a source for. In the article we're commenting on it says he was shot after telling officers the gun wasn't real, which is outrageous if true.

 

Either way an unarmed man who posed no danger to the public was killed. That CANNOT be the 'right thing'.

 

 

They told him to put it down, he refused to listen.  They told him several times before they shot him.  I prefer to hear the eye witnesses over a newspaper article, specially since they are second hand on the information unlike WHIO who talked to several witnesses right after the incident.  

 

That rag that had the article is so far left leaning it scary.

[DocM]

They told him to put it down, he refused to listen. They told him several times before they shot him. I prefer to hear the eye witnesses over a newspaper article, specially since they are second hand on the information unlike WHIO who talked to several witnesses right after the incident.

That rag that had the article is so far left leaning it scary.

The first thing you're taught in criminal investigation classes is that eyewitnesses are often dead wrong. This has been born out in numerous studies, so no.

Scientific American

"Why Science Tells Us Not to Rely on Eyewitness Accounts

Eyewitness testimony is fickle and, all too often, shockingly inaccurate"

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-the-eyes-have-it/

[pack34]

He only hates American cops, and American freedoms, best is to ignore him or treat him like a troll 

 

"American freedoms" ... In this day and age, can you really say that with a straight face?

[Nagisan]

They told him several times before they shot him.

Chances are the 911 clips are not the full audio, but from what I heard in them, they tell him once, then literally a second later they yell at him to put the gun down, another second passes and they open fire. Apparently 3-4 seconds is enough to determine he is refusing to listen and is a threat that needs to be eliminated with lethal force (again, this is based on the 911 calls, but it may not be the full audio).

[Dot Matrix]

The gun should have had an orange tip. How did the officers not see that?