> If a coroner saw a corpse shot seven times in the head at
> close range, she would assume that the shooter was extremely
> angry and emotionally involved, and that this was a crime of
> passion.
Unless of course, the coroner knew what happened instead. I'm sure you're missing quite a bit of information:
- Most cops don't get enough training, especially with weapons - Most cops never shoot their weapons under stress - Many cops (and non-cops!), when they first fire a weapon under stress report all kinds of psychological symptoms:
+ They don't remember what happened
+ They don't remember how many times they fired, or where
+ They typically underestimate how many shots were fired
+ They quite often don't stop shooting (you find a lot of cops
with empty guns after a shooting)
+ They are often in shock and deaf
It's not at all surprising that the initial count was wrong.
> The overkill is inconsistent with a professional shooter
No, unfortunately it's completely consistent with a high-stress law-enforcement shooting. As to what a "professional shooter" is, I'll leave that one up to someone else. Very few law enforcement positions require the kind of training required to be called a "professional shooter" ...
James writes:
> How putting eight shots, all but one of them into the head,
> at point blank range can be called an 'accident' is beyond me.
Don't be coy: the 'accident' in this case, of course, was the decision made that this guy was a true threat. Once that decision was made, of course the result was no accident.
/jordan