DC Metro Shoots Black Man with BB Gun; Sherman Evans
DC Metro Police Department has released bodycam footage of their officers shooting Sherman Evans. The incident occurred June 27th, when police officers responded to a report of a man with a gun. Police officers arrived and found Sherman Evans holding a pistol. The police officers spent several minutes trying to talk to Evans in an attempt to get him to drop his gun. Finally, Evans raised the gun at officers and they shot him. It was later discovered that Sherman’s gun was a realistic looking BB gun.
One of Evan’s daughters reported that Sherman Evans had been depressed over the death of his girlfriend last year; this appears to be a case of suicide by cop. Despite the fact that the officers clearly went above and beyond to do everything they possibly could in this situation, some people with Black Lives Matter are still crying foul.
Critics are saying that police shot too many rounds. If you have six officers who identify a threat at the same time, and they each shoot only four rounds, then that’s 24 shots. Clearly critics think that each officer should take turns, firing one round at a time, and pausing after each shot to check if there’s any indication that the suspect may have been hit.
Other critics are claiming that officers should have identified Sherman Evans’ gun as a harmless BB gun, at night, from 75 feet away. I think the image of the BB gun should speak for itself on this:
Sherman Evans’ BB gun
Critics of shootings like this demonstrate why some people seem like they just can’t be reached. It seems that in the eyes of these people, there is no justifiable use of deadly force. However, when you look at the complaints of these critics, such as the high number of rounds shot, you might also notice that when you look at news articles, critics are just reflecting the information that the media went out of their way to report:
…several officers responding to a 911 call of a “man with a gun” in a Northeast Washington, D.C., neighborhood, fired a barrage of bullets at Sherman Evans. Police later found he was wielding a pellet gun.
Authorities said Evans refused many demands to drop the weapon and eventually pointed it at officers. Audio from the footage suggests that they fired at him more than 20 times.
-USA Today
Would the criticism of police suddenly become more fair if the news media actually reported responsibly on these incidents? A suicidal man shot dead for pointing a gun at officers is boring, but if the media emphasizes a few sketchy facts, then they have a big story.
The police officers on scene had a lot of manpower, which no doubt helped. What officers didn’t have also stood out; each officer was confronting an armed man with only their pistol. Ideally, when police officers know that they will be confronting an armed suspect, using a rifle is the best option. Rifles are much more accurate at a longer rang than pistols, and they are also more effective. The increased range would have helped protect officers from a suspect armed with just a pistol, and the increased accuracy would allow for more rounds to hit their target, rather than the nearby residences.
In the event of an active shooter who is armed with a rifle, these police officers would be horribly outgunned and people will pay for it with their lives. It’s a shame that administrators in most agencies don’t think that rifles are important for their patrol officers to have available. After all, it’s not like police officers would ever be sent to confront an active shooter.
If you think that these officers handled the situation appropriately, please don’t be afraid to stand up to the hate and spread the word that our officers are doing a phenomenal job.
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Brian
This is what happens when the perp. refuses to fallow the officers exact directions. Maybe he was confused by too many orders while he was trying to figure out where to hide his toys!