Off-duty St. Louis County officer fatally shoots intruder at home

[pintobean]

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

An off-duty St. Louis County police officer shot and killed a man who tried to enter his home in Lakeshire in South County on Saturday afternoon, according to police.

The intruder was a 21-year-old man known to the family who had recently made threats on Facebook, St. Louis County Police Jon Belmar said in at a press conference Saturday. Belmar declined to elaborate on the nature of the threats, saying police were still investigating.

<snip>

Belmar said that before the officer could get to the front door, the man had gone to the rear of the house, where he threw a 50-pound concrete planter through a window to enter the home.

Members of the family in the bedroom said they heard the officer tell the intruder to “get down, get down, get down,” and then heard several shots fired, Belmar said.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/off-duty-st-louis-county-officer-fatally-shoots-intruder-at/article_00c6c2bd-d559-5b78-a8f1-e78187dfa2a6.html

[jakeXT]

1. So no intentions of shooting someone in the legs/nt

[christx30]

2. Legs are easy to miss.

Center mass is a surer hit. Aim small, miss small.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. Shooting at the center is probably the normal training.

Shooting someone in the leg is probably more of an interrogation technique from various television shows.

[EL34x4]

9. When someone throws a 50 pound chunk of concrete

through your door, you're not thinking about getting off a leg shot. You're thinking about staying alive by stopping the threat.

Anyhow, where do people get the ignorant notion that a "leg shot" is a merciful way to teach someone a lesson while sparing their life? Ever heard of the femoral artery? Get that severed by a bullet and the blood will drain from your body like water out of a garden hose. You'll be dead in less minutes than you can count on your hand.

[Adrahil]

10. Sarcasm?

Seriously, in that situation, I would be shooting the big meaty part innthe middle.

[Duckhunter935]

27. Nobody is trained to shoot at the legs

Very small moving target that is to easy to miss and hit other people. Shoot center mass until there no longer is a threat is what is trained.

[jakeXT]

28. So only if someone is trying to kill himself they shoot him in the leg

Man shot by police in Calumet Heights

A Chicago police officer shot a man in the leg in Calumet Heights on the South Side early Sunday, police said.

Just before 1:10 a.m., someone called 911 saying he was in a second-floor apartment in the 1800 block of East 87th Street, and he was going to kill himself, a source said. The caller also said he had a 9mm handgun, according to the source.

...

Officers found a man in the apartment "holding what appeared to be a handgun," and police told him to drop it, Roy said.

He pointed the gun at police, according to Roy, at which point one officer deployed a Taser and another officer fired his gun.

The Taser connected with the man, and he was shot in the leg.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-person-shot-by-police-on-south-side-20160710-story.html

[Duckhunter935]

30. May not be where he was aiming

Not how they are trained.

[jakeXT]

35. Maybe it was just common sense and intelligence /nt

[Duckhunter935]

36. Maybe

Might also have been a lucky shot

[TipTok]

3. Another classic example of 'play stupid games, win stupid prizes'

What a moron...

Hope the homeowner doesn't get any flak.

[XemaSab]

11. As it were.

n/t

[Yo_Mama]

37. According to the story, the dead guy had a significant mental disorder (bipolar).

A family member states that he sometimes didn't take his medication.

This appears to be a tragic final incident and result of mental disease. So not a moron, but an imbalanced person.

[TipTok]

41. Six of one...

Half a dozen of the other...

[Judi Lynn]

4. Claims of police brutality are therefore invalid, is that the ticket?

Very timely, useful information to try to muddy the waters.

No point can be made by publishing this story. It's completely ordinary, we've seen these stories forever.

[pintobean]

6. It invalidates nothing.

The timing was created by the home invader, and it muddies nothing. Police brutality clearly happens. This story does absolutely nothing to detract from that fact.

It's completely ordinary, we've seen these stories forever.

Not in my world. It seems like some Hollywood shit to me. Maybe you can give me some DU links to stories where cops have had to defend their families from unarmed home invaders.

I actually respect the intelligence of DUers.

[Judi Lynn]

12. The timing in rushing to put up stories defending business as usual, no change, whatsoever.

It's certainly your right to claim you respect the intelligence of DU'ers.

Democrats are bright, and bright people are not reactionaries.

[Marengo]

21. Is that the intention and goal of the OP? How do you know this?

[Marengo]

23. Do bright people attribute hidden, sinister motives when no information exists on which to draw...

Such a conclusion. I'll ask you again, what information did the author of the OP provide which is declarative of the goal or intention?

[pintobean]

25. Business as usual? I'm still waiting for links.

A young man throwing concrete through a police officers door and entering his home, unarmed and knowing the family is home, is not "Business as usual". Your OP about the suicide by cop story is more "Business as usual".


As to the timing of "rushing" my posting, that's regulated by LBN rules.

[Marengo]

14. If this type of news is so ordinary why did you not simply ignore it? Why comment at all?

That fact that you did, and attributed a motive to the OP is VERY illustrative.

[Judi Lynn]

15. What would you say it illustrates? Please, don't be shy.

You're not speaking to psychics.

[center][/center]

[Marengo]

16. Apparently I am addressing a psychic, as you claim to know the motive for the OP.

[Judi Lynn]

17. Clearly, it doesn't take a psychic when you recognize the intention. n/t

[Marengo]

18. What is the goal of the OP?

[Judi Lynn]

19. Already stated in post 12. Why would you try to bait me, anyway? n/t

[Marengo]

20. What information do you base this determination on? Did the poster state a reason for posting...

This report?

[Marengo]

24. Why won't you answer the question? What are you afraid of?

[hughee99]

40. Two people get into a facebook feud and then one breaks into the other's house and gets killed.

This is "completely ordinary"?

[Marengo]

42. Hey, looks like the report has been posted again. Why don't you head on over and question...

The poster's motive: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141515074. I look forward to witnessing you psychic ability once again.

[Travis_0004]

44. Should we get your permission next time before posting a story?

Its news. You can read into it all you want but the point of this forum is to post news stories.

[mark67]

5. I agree....

...not sure why this article was even posted here...innocently or someone trying to derail the larger conversation about excessive force.

[whistler162]

8. To derail a conversation you only need to post

one truth!

[Judi Lynn]

13. What's the one truth? Care to elaborate? We're not psychics.

[center] [/center]

[whistler162]

39. Your not!!!

One truth - some Police officers are bad.
The other one truth - some Police officers are good.

If we don't hear both truths then we have a imbalanced view of Police officers. Just as if we only hear the bad of any given race we only know the bad and not the good. It isn't really difficult to figure out, now is it.

[Logical]

26. Point of this post??? nt

[LongtimeAZDem]

29. Stories of defensive gun rarely make national news, while accidents and other shootings

are widely reported. As a result, the perception is that defensive gun rarely happens.

[Duckhunter935]

31. We have been told many times

It never happens

[LongtimeAZDem]

34. I didn't realize how often it's reported until I saw the Reddit DGU group

Defensive Gun Use

[Logical]

32. Well, they do rarely happen. Hell, most cops, like 90% never fire their weapon in a lifetime. nt

[pintobean]

33. More that attacks on law enforcement are in the news.

Dallas, Kentucky, Ballwin, Mo, and now this. This one is really weird though. And, with this one, the attacker is the only one killed or injured.

[pintobean]

38. ***Update***

The new headline for the link in the OP is:

Intruder shot by off-duty St. Louis County officer after online argument about Black Lives Matter, family says

Some of the updated info:

Police Sunday morning identified the intruder as Tyler Gebhard, 20, of the 7900 block of Navajoe Street in the Affton area.

An uncle, Patrick Brogan, 57, of Waterloo, said Gebhard became acquainted with the county police officer through a church connection.

Brogan said his nephew, a former Affton High School football standout, suffered from bi-polar disorder.

According to Brogan, the officer and Gebhard had been arguing on Facebook about Black Lives Matter. Gebhard, who was biracial, empathized with the group's objectives but did not actively participate in protests, Brogan said.

Same link as the one in the OP.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/off-duty-st-louis-county-officer-fatally-shoots-intruder-at/article_00c6c2bd-d559-5b78-a8f1-e78187dfa2a6.html

[cstanleytech]

43. Sadly another tragedy that might have been avoided if our country had better access

to treatment for those with mental health issues.