3 men posing as ATF agents break into home, kill resident

[one-eyed fat man]

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/10/3_men_posing_as_atf_agents_bre.html

It's not that new a tactic. Al Capone had phony Chicago cops do the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

[zipplewrath]

1. Strange story

They posed as ATF agents, but stole a flat screen TV. The police believe they were "targeted" but didn't say why. The guy has two minor drug busts. It's not an area known for this kind of crime.

Why ATF agents as oppose to a more generic "police" or even "federal agents"?
Pretty elaborate plan for stealing a TV, which apparently aren't even all that valuable these days "on the street". He was "targeted", but for what? Because he had a flat screen?

There's much more here that they aren't saying.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

2. they took his guns and drugs too

but he could not tell the police that?

and who says they were not ATF? the ATF?

[Euromutt]

8. It does sound awfully odd

The robbers shot and killed one guy while leaving the other four unharmed. Any smart criminal knows that killing someone in the course of an armed robbery is first-degree murder, which will get you the maximum penalty anyway, so (as in the armored car robbery at the beginning of the movie Heat), once you've killed one person, you may as well eliminate any and all witnesses.

I'd say there are two plausible explanations:
The first is that the robbers were, frankly, amateurs. They committed the home invasion under the belief, rightly or wrongly, that their target peddled a little marijuana, and the house would contain a distributable amount of drugs and/or money. The fact that they made off with the television is actually evidence that they were wrong about that, because if they did find drugs and/or cash, why bother taking the TV? Even a flatscreen is comparatively unwieldy and fragile to haul along in a getaway. They probably had no premeditated intent of killing Russell, and they didn't have the knowledge and/or ruthlessness to murder a woman and three children after they had killed him.

The second is that it was in effect a premeditated hit, and the intruders went through the motions of making it look like a robbery to lay a smokescreen. I'd consider this the less likely of the two, given that people who are, in effect, assassinated, are generally well known to the police, and the reasons why are pretty obvious. But maybe the police aren't fully disclosing their suspicions at this point.

[Remmah2]

3. See, see, see!

If all guns were banned we would not need the ATF. We'd only have AT agents. :)

[Xmit]

4. That's why I don't trust anyone

that credentials themselves. If it's a cop, I call the cops. If it's legal, whats the harm right?

If it's a claimed fed or state plain clothes, I call the cops.

Easy.

[benEzra]

5. The problem comes when they are pretending to be LEO's on a SWAT-style raid.

That is one reason why IMO the routine use of dynamic entries to serve warrants is a very bad thing; it prevents the homeowner from knowing if those masked people yelling something while kicking your door in are police who are accidentally raiding the wrong house, or if they're robbers yelling "Police!" to gain an advantage over the occupants.

With knock and announce warrants---REAL knock and announce warrants, not followed by kicking the door in ten seconds later---you can indeed take the time to confirm identities as you point out, and I wish more warrants were served that way. I believe we would all be safer.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

6. Another reason why secuirty systems and strong physical security are good things

Even more so for those of us who live in remote areas.

[Katya Mullethov]

7. Did they shoot the dog ?

And or drill a glory hole in the bathroom door ?

If not , then it was likely "civilians".