Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Fort Worth Police Shoot Before Asking Questions Killing Innocent 73 Year Old Man

I have always been a supporter of law enforcement at the city, county and state levels. They place their lives on the line every day in order to keep a relative sense of peace and order in our society. Without the police, we would be a nation of anarchists and criminals (other than the ones in Washington D.C.).

However, police are human and sinners and sometimes they act wrongfully and in the case of two Fort Worth, Texas police officers, an innocent man died.

Jerry Waller, 73 years young, and his wife Kathy had gone to bed Monday night like they always did. Shortly after midnight, they were woken by a neighbor�s burglar alarm and bright light. Like a good neighbor, Waller grabbed his handgun and went to his garage to investigate the alarm. Waller lives across the street from the where the alarm was sounding. He was still behind his own house when the next thing he knew, two rookie police officers had opened fire on him, shooting him 6 times in the chest. Waller was instantly killed.

Kathy Waller, the grieving widow, told the local news:

�I think the police made a terrible mistake.�

�Somebody just got a little trigger happy, and away they go.�
Cpl Tracey Knight of the Fort Worth Police Department defended the actions of the two officers by saying:

�He was armed with a handgun and officers feared for their safety. They felt threatened, and that�s when they shot him.�

�Officers did follow policies and procedures according to burglary alarm calls. Two officers were dispatched. Both were driving marked police cars. Both were in full police uniforms. They identified themselves as police officers. I don�t know what lead to this tragic event.�
The two police officers involved were both rookies with less than a year�s experience on the police force. According to the reports, the two officers have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.



Are we supposed to understand that proper police procedure is to shoot someone before talking to them or finding out who they are and what they�re doing? When did the two officers identify themselves � as they were shooting or before? They claimed they feared for their lives when they say Waller with his gun, but aren�t they supposed to try to capture people alive if possible?

I don�t see anything about this incident that looks like proper police procedure. It looks like two rookie cops panicked and reacted to Jerry Waller before they thought about what they were doing. If that is the case, then neither of these two officers have any business being on the street in uniform.

If Jerry Waller had opened fire on an innocent person like the two officers did, he would be sitting in jail facing charges. From the evidence given so far, I believe these two officers should also be sitting in jail facing charges for the wrongful death of Jerry Waller. I�ll be curious to see what the police investigation turns up and how they will attempt to exonerate the two officers.

So there's an alarm going off at a house and a bright light -alarm light type deal.
A man across the street from the alarmed house is looking towards the possible crime scene from his own garage -two cops shoot him six times.
A 73 year old man at that.

Police departments REALLY need to change the way they choose these stupid azzwipes.
See a gun that's not in the hand of a comrade =start blasting away ----why not when your boss has your back.

Rest in Peace Jerry Waller -prayer for the family.

bea175, do you have a link to the article you posted? I'm not doubting what happened, I'm just curious where it came from.

It's a bad deal...

Cops respond to a burglary across the street and the old guy responds too...carrying his pistol. Word is, he refused to drop it and waved it around with two rookie cops drawn down on him.

A really bad deal.

I'm certainly not forming any opinion on this deal. It does not look good for the Ft. Worth Police. Steve Hall, the Ft. Worth officer that made a statement, according to my wife, was a friend of my sons when they were young about 38 years ago. Steve made a statement on local TV a little earlier today.

I could see my Dad walking into something like that. Tragic.

Yeah, tragic for all concerned.

I guess a good lesson from this, don't go into a live, evolving situation waving a weapon. Keep it holstered or out of sight until time to fire it.

Those rookies panicked and took out the old man, who was just seeing what was happening at his neighbor's house.

Gotta be a better protocol for both sides, the neighbor and the police.

Like the Warden (actor, Strother Martin) said in the Cool Hand Luke movie, "What we have here is a failure to communicate".

DF

What the cops need to learn to do is back away and figure things out -not start shooting .

Maybe. I've almost killed several people in the same circumstances, but luckily they had their senses about them. I can imagine what would happen if the old fella was half blind, deaf, etc. Like I said...I could see my Dad in that situation.

Except its OUR job to be there not his, he should have put his weapon down. He placed himself in a bad situation. Its a trajic trajic situation all around for ALL concerned. But until YOU have walked in our ahoes the best thing to do is STFU

Yup.

I'm not LEO baiting, but more and more it seems that...

Protect = protect my own ass first

Serve = Serve the self-serving government animal first

This has become the prevalent perception, for whatever reason.

Rule 1) You can't help anybody else if you're dead.

I'm certain that the old man was stupid enough to start waving a gun around when, thankfully, two of Ft Worths finest showed up to investigate the alarm- not. I guess if he had started shooting their direction, he would have been as stupid as them.

I am going to wait and see how this woks out. If the officers told him to put his gun down and he didn't put his hearing aids in or just did not understand them then I can see where the officers would have acted as they did.

Tragic all the way around. I am sure these two officers and not sleeping well just as the widow is.

Put yourself in the cops shoes. Respond to burglary alarm, find man in immediate vicinity( i believe he was in the yard), with a gun in his hand and you identify yourself and order him to put it down, now who knows. He may have been hard of hearing or disoriented who knows. Now you have ordered this armed man to drop his gun and he does not comply. If its me im not asking a third time

Prevalent perception in some circles, no doubt. But perception ain't always reality. Just saying.

Isn't self preservation the natural human condition?

Tragic? Of course. Understandable? Yes.

He was in his own driveway. Pay attention to detail.