Now he knows how it feels to shoot first before saying tell your name and show yourself with pistol pointed.

He will probably never shoot at someone again.

Its a tragedy...

It illustrates it can happen to anyone, even someone trained in the proper use and application of force.

All cops are not bad, and reveling in the death of this mans son as an example of "stupid cops" is shameful.

I hope this man and his family end up okay after this, but I can't imagine how hard it would be to shoot your own son.

The guy already got his punishment. He shot his own son, something I believe he can never forgive himself for.
There is no further punishment needed, he will never touch a firearm again. Too bad a life had to be lost.

Just a quick question, what is the retirement age for the police in America? I just ask because this cops son was 37, so this cop had to be in his very late 50's early 60's. He couldn't of been just some beat cop as some people are inferring on here.

While it is obvious there is excessive force being used by some police, it is not all, the police and all LEO's are made up of people and whenever you get a group of people you will get decent people and bad people, just as you get good dentists and bad dentist, good doctors and bad doctors etc etc, trying to blame all of them is pointless in fact it is counter productive. All you do is make even the good cops feel it is a situation of us against them and drive them into a siege mentality.

This is a tragic accident, but obviously one that could of been avoided if this guy had used even a modicum of common sense and only re-enforce the argument for gun control. if people did not have guns at home these sort of tragedies would not happen. I am not saying gun control is right, just that these incidents play into their hands.

I feel very sorry for the son that died and his family, I don't really feel any sympathy for cop, he fired without identifying himself, without any thought to capturing or chasing the intruder away, he did not even check to see if the intruder was armed (otherwise he would of seen it was his son) All he did was think to shoot the person, and that is a very poor mentality to have. I have to say though this sort of sentiment runs deep in the American psyche, if you don't like something kill it and ask questions later, very sad

Maybe THIS is what it will take to teach a lesson to those trigger-happy cops. You killed one of "your own" due to your quickness to shoot.

Idea: let's fire a whole lot of cops, so that fewer people die. Let's ban cops at protests. Take away their mace. They cannot be trusted to use it for protection only.

Don't feel sorry at all for the cop. Too bad for the son.

This is heartbreaking.

As a Parent I cant imagine the pain and anguish that the father feels. He'll have to live for the rest of his life with knowing his is the hand that ended a precious life.

Originally posted by Ilovecatbinlady
I love it when the pigs get it. Hopefully that's one less cop who will organise stalk an innocent civilian. No doubt he will not go to jail because he "thought" it was an intruder.

edit on 22-7-2012 by Ilovecatbinlady because: (no reason given)

This is the sort of mindset that has cops being overly defensive, and thus maybe getting a little too trigger happy when they suspect a break in, or feel their life is in danger.

Grow up, all cops are not like you say. They have better things to do than organize stalking against innocent civilians. They have a job to do, and I don't envy the job, whether its policing angry demonstrators, or tracking and prosecuting serious crime.

This is a tragic thing to happen to this family, and my heart and prayers go out to all of them.

This is very sad.

Since I wasnt there I cant judge him for what he did or say if he was wrong. It doesnt say if the son was staying with him in the hotel or not.

I can sorta see why he might have shot him. Maybe the father took a vacation to visit his son so he is staying in a shady hotel(unfamiliar surroundings) maybe in a high crime area, the son maybe want to visit him in the hotel. He knocks on the door but no answer since his father is asleep. The son goes to the desk tells the clerk I want to check on my father he wont answer the door, gets a room key. before he opens the door he bangs on it again which kinda wakes him up. as the son is trying to open the door the father drifts back to sleep. The son ooens the door and makes his way over to the bed in a dark room. The father then opens his eyes to see a dark figure in his room coming towards him, not knowing his son was coming to the hotel to see him. Since police and military are trained that if someone has a knife or any weapon 16ft or closer you wont have time to react. So the father panicked and fired.

Im not saying thats what happend, just my thought on what possibly could have happend. I couldnt imagine what hes going through. I wouldnt be surprised if he decides to take his own life

Wow! I live in Syracuse and I will follow this story to the end. In light of the Colorado shooting I have been involved in several gun control debates. As someone who has firearms, making the decision to draw my weapon is one that I think of everyday. My philosophy has always been one of defense. The best home defense is an alert dog. Statistics show that an encounter is going to be at less than ten feet and in low-light. If I'm lucky enough to be alerted to someone's presence down stairs my plan is to secure all my loved ones in my room. Barricade the door and arm myself, phone 911 and tell them I have an intruder in my home and I'm armed. They better get someone over here quick. I have no intention of engaging anyone unless I absolutely have to. If that person insists on breaking down that door than have at it. A good offense is a good defense. Get a dog. Buy generic ADT signs and put them up in the yard or stickers on your door. They'll never know they're fake. Leave lights on. There are an assortment of things you can do to help mitigate a situation like this.

God bless this family and good luck

On a side note...Fox quoted a Syracuse Newspaper, which is kinda misleading, since the Cop and son were from Rochester, NY. He was an officer in Wyoming county, quite a ways away from Syracuse, NY. He was staying up north in Old Forge, which is famous for camping, and located north of Utica.

Originally posted by Ilovecatbinlady
I love it when the pigs get it.

It was a child. Not a pig!

You know, sometimes you're a real asset to the posting quality here at ATS