A Vietnam Vet Killed An Intruder Who Tried To Strangle His Grandson, Then Police Shot Him

This is a horrible story and I had to think twice about posting it. This is a clear case of shoot first and ask questions later.. I was not there but the description of the bad guy had been given along with the identity of the home owner..

Colorado police shot and killed a decorated Vietnam War veteran in his home after he killed a naked intruder who tried to strangle his grandson.

Richard Black, 73, awoke Monday to find that a naked intruder had broken through his door and was trying to strangle his 11-year-old grandson. Black and his stepson attempted to wrest the man off of the boy but, after failing to separate them, Black retrieved his 9mm handgun and shot the man twice in the chest. Aurora police, responding to several 911 calls, then arrived on the scene and reportedly shot and killed Black in his own home. (RELATED: Bodycam Footage Of LAPD Hostage Shooting Released)

“Mr. Black did everything right. His actions saved his grandson’s life. He should be in the mayor’s office getting a commendation for his heroism. Instead he’s in the morgue,” said attorney Siddhartha H. Rathod, according to The Associated Press.

Black’s wife, Jeanette, had called the police during the altercation and described the intruder to authorities as a black man and her husband and son as white men, so as to avoid confusion.

dailycaller.com...

a reply to: 727Sky


That's sad. Two young boys just lost their grandpa, thanks to police overreaction.

a reply to: 727Sky

I want to see the evidence / video police couldnt release before forming my opinion.

If a person has never been in this type of situation then they should think twice and get all the facts before suggesting the police did something wrong.

It is an Indictment on any society when calling the Police for help, can get a homeowner shot to death.

So sad!

P

a reply to: 727Sky

I guess the confusion was with the guy’s name: Black.

a reply to: 727Sky

A straight forward case of the state showing whose boss and who does as they are told.

In this case its the police who are carrying out the states message.

The media have become the prosecutor and the police are the state's executioners.

a reply to: Xcathdra


ATS wouldn't be an active bee-hive, if we waited for evidence before commenting.

originally posted by: Xcathdra
a reply to: 727Sky

I want to see the evidence / video police couldnt release before forming my opinion.

If a person has never been in this type of situation then they should think twice and get all the facts before suggesting the police did something wrong.

I read on multiple other websites that the police asked repeatedly for him to put his weapon down and when he did not, they shot. Apparently he could not hear them. I feel sick for everyone involved, including the officers who shot him.

a reply to: 727Sky

Sounds like about 1/3 of the story,wonder what really happened,sounds like a liberal rant,remove truth insert anything you want,another anti police,anti gun rant

a reply to: Xcathdra

They did do something wrong, they shot and killed an innocent man!

Maybe the police need better training, with less focus on "eliminating the threat", and more focus on diffusing volatile situations, non-lethal measures and high stress mediation and negotiation.

Maybe penalties for "execution" should be higher and enforced, to assure the accused or innocent get a day in court rather than silenced from vigilante justice.

Maybe they need to increase the required IQ and EQ of potential officers, and instill a mandate of "serve and protect" with the aim of fostering a "peace keeping" attitude rather than an "armed and lethal" force.

I'm happy for our officers to be paid more to facilitate these types of suggestions, it would be great to have a respectable, honourable and trustworthy police that are afforded the scope to use their better judgement in situations, rather than a bunch of officious, uneducated, power hungry killers that innocent people fear to contact.

a reply to: Ameilia

Tragic for everyone concerned.

Any further comments at this moment other than relaying facts would be insensitive.

a reply to: 727Sky

Im really glad to see this posted here. I saw the story when it broke locally several days ago.

Really #ty situation. And it seems only fair to bring to attention what can go wrong with an armed populace combined with overzealous cops. Unfortunately - in this case, if only the cops hadnt been called then it would have only been a good story about a citizen exercising the rights to defend their home and family.

Instead, this crap show.

originally posted by: Ameilia

originally posted by: Xcathdra
a reply to: 727Sky

I want to see the evidence / video police couldnt release before forming my opinion.

If a person has never been in this type of situation then they should think twice and get all the facts before suggesting the police did something wrong.

I read on multiple other websites that the police asked repeatedly for him to put his weapon down and when he did not, they shot. Apparently he could not hear them. I feel sick for everyone involved, including the officers who shot him.

That kinda makes sense. He was 73 and discharged a 9mm at least twice inside the house which would make most peoples ears ring and even cause possible ear damage.

IMO unless he was perceived to be banishing his pistol in a threatening way towards the cops, the shooting was one big unnecessary mess-up.

I wonder how much of "Oh, he has a gun, he is bad, shoot shoot shoot" was involved ?
youtu.be...


The 911 tapes nor the body cam video will not be released at this time as there is still an investigation going on.. OK you have a video of the cop shooting Mr. Black.. It should exonerate the cop or burn him.. What is there to investigate other than bureaucratic B.S. or cover-up ? Sorry that was my first thought.. Now the good news is the Chief during his press briefing gave a blow by blow description of what the officer's faced upon arrival. Mr. Black had a flash light in one hand and a gun in the other hand. He was told to drop the gun 5 times but did not comply for whatever reason (Mr. Black did have a hearing impediment which was found out later) This is a very sad occurrence that has critical events that had they gone a different way this would have been avoided.

go to the 21 minute mark to hear the description of the video and time line. youtu.be...

a reply to: puzzlesphere

So there is no possibility that dispatch failed to relay the clothing description / person description of the people involved? There was no possibility the 911 caller lied? There is no possibility that between the 911 call and the officers arrival on scene another person could not have entered the equation? There is no possibility that there was more than one assailant who was unknown at the time of the 911 call? There is no possibility the homeowner didnt comply with disarming himself and made a movement police found threatening.

All I am saying is I want to see more info. These things are not as clear cut as you think. The scene will be treated as a homicide scene and people involved as suspects until they are cleared by the investigation and prosecutors decision. An investigation must occur to determine the shooting was justified, making the end result a homicide - justified with the coroner and prosecutor.

Finally hindsight is always 20/20. The officers didnt have the luxury of having all of this info sorted out during the encounter.

Terrible story. Lived a hero, and died like one for the people he loved.

Tragic.

a reply to: 727Sky



Tragic as ever with YET another case of over zealous policing with armed response, something needs to change regarding US policing, serve and PROTECT

All of the public need to stand against this type of incident regardless of ethnicity/gender/age the police should not be able to exterminate at will members of the public

originally posted by: Xcathdra
a reply to: 727Sky

I want to see the evidence / video police couldnt release before forming my opinion.

If a person has never been in this type of situation then they should think twice and get all the facts before suggesting the police did something wrong.

Ummm...this is tragic and sad...but I agree...we should wait for the whole story before forming any concrete opinions...even then...they're only opinions...

Not too many years ago I would have been foaming at the mouth with a post about how bad the police are...but thanks to you and SDciderpig and Shamrock...I've learned to temper my automatic attitude...

I just wanted to thank you and them for helping me to see the person in the form of the LEO...

That's why I love ATS so much...I get to be an irreverent asshat...and...grow from my experiences here...

Thank you for your service...


It needed to be said...





YouSir

a reply to: 727Sky

This is a tragic story, and we'll know how innocent the cops are by how quickly they release the bodycam footage. That seems to be how things work. If they're truly innocent, the footage is released rather quickly, such as in the case of the woman claiming the cop was harassing her because she was black. If they didn't do things properly, then they'll hold onto the footage until they can figure out a way to make themselves look better.

Yeah, they did a great job on this one. Back patting time. Aren't the criminals out there that they could shoot.