Cleveland Police: Incident where officer shot & killed 12-year-old boy caught on surveillance video

[branford]

32. A good shoot in no way means it was not a tragedy,

simply that the police acted in an appropriate manner. Not every terrible outcome is the result of negligence or malice.

You state that "surely the cop could have found a way to end whatever situation was happening without deadly force," but given the information we know (if true, but the video that should be very informative), I believe it hard to argue that the officers did anything wrong.

In this instance, the police were called to a playground because of a 911 report of someone waving a gun around (there are some reports that the playground was a known gang hangout). The situation is now already serious and potentially very deadly. The police identify a suspect, the boy, with a weapon indistinguishable from a actual firearm. Apparently, someone had removed the orange marker that indicated the gun was not real. The officers properly instruct the boy to put his hands up to mitigate any danger. Rather than comply, the boy inexplicably reaches for the weapon. The police officer shoots to protect himself and other innocents, including children. The officer had to make an immediate decision based only on the information he had available at the time, nothing more.

If the officers' account is true, what would you suggest would have been the right course of action that wouldn't have gambled with the lives of the officers and innocent bystanders, and only knowing what the officers then knew?