Woman, 92, dies in shootout with police

[Friday]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/22/woman.shot.ap/index.html

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- A 92-year-old woman was shot to death Tuesday after she fired at three narcotics officers trying to serve a warrant at her house, officials said.

Neighbors and relatives said it must have been a case of mistaken identity. Police said they had the right address.

Police said the woman, identified as Kathryn Johnson, was the only person home at the time, and had lived there for about 17 years.

As the plainclothes Atlanta police officers approached the house about 7 p.m., a woman inside started shooting, striking each of them, said Officer Joe Cobb, a police spokesman.

Assistant Chief Alan Dreher said the officers had a legal warrant and "knocked and announced" before they forced open the door. He said they were justified in returning fire when they were fired upon.

One was hit in the arm, another in a thigh and the third in a shoulder. The officers were taken to a hospital for treatment, and all three were conscious and alert, police said.

Sarah Dozier, identified as a niece of the woman, told WAGA-TV that there were never any drugs at the house.

"My aunt was in good health. I'm sure she panicked when they kicked that door down," Dozier said. "There was no reason they had to go in there and shoot her down like a dog."
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Random thoughts:
I hope *I'm* this feisty at age 92.
Grandma was a dang good shot under pressure!
From the body parts she hit, it almost seems like she was carefully trying to wound, not kill.  Which makes it all the more disgusting that the cops then proceeded to kill her.
Another article mentions that her niece, who was planning on going to the house for Thanksgiving dinner, had to hear on the news that her auntie was gunned down in her home.  No turkey for her. 

[aries]

They never mention what the warrant was for

[FTL_Ian]

Whew, thanks to those heroic cops the world is now safe from the scourge of drugs!

</sarcasm>






Can we please, stop the insanity of this Drug War?

[AlanM]

This makes me sick. 92 years old! She was definitely a danger to society.
If there wrer no drugs in the house before their arrival I'm sure there are now. They need to cover their asses. Jerks!

[mvpel]

I read in another forum that the cops were in plain clothes.

What a bunch of tools, kicking in a door in a rough neighborhood in plain clothes.  I hope they recover quickly so they can be prosecuted for negligent homicide.

[FTL_Ian]

I read in another forum that the cops were in plain clothes.

What a bunch of tools, kicking in a door in a rough neighborhood in plain clothes.  I hope they recover quickly so they can be prosecuted for negligent homicide.

Unfortunately, that's not likely.  Police are rarely punished for things like this.

[Brock]

In this case, punishment (although maybe not justice) was delivered quickly.  Can someone send these guys some LEAP pamphlets/membership applications?

[KBCraig]

They were in plain clothes. Or at least, "not in street uniforms", according to ajc.com. Probably raid jackets at best.

When I went to ajc.com, the current video news report had the police spokesman saying "it took some time" for them to force open the door. (There were burglar bars in place.)

Apparently just time enough for a frightened elderly woman to retrieve her gun and shoot at the invaders kicking in her front door.

[ladyattis]

It's attack of the old ladies with guns! MUhahaha! They'll kill us all! [not!] 

-- Bridget

[SeanSchade]

Yeah, this is all over the news here in Atlanta. Not to support the police officers, but...

Bad part of town notorious for drug houses...
She fired first wounding 3 officers...

It sucks that they either raided the wrong house, or raided the house on bad information. It shows you how pathetic the war on drugs is.

If you see this from the point of view of the officers...you bust down a door where you expect armed drug dealers to be inside. You're being shot at, and you return fire. The smoke clears and you realize you just killed a 92 year old woman.

[FTL_Ian]

Sorry, I can't see it from their perspective.  They are enforcing bad laws.  As a result people get killed.

I can't imagine being a mindless automaton adrenaline junkie.

[Rocketman]

If you see this from the point of view of the officers...you bust down a door where you expect armed drug dealers to be inside. You're being shot at, and you return fire. The smoke clears and you realize you just killed a 92 year old woman.

...and hopefully learn the lesson that your job should not exist, quit (or get yourself reassigned), and join L.E.A.P.

[error]

Now the cops are saying they found a "small amount" of narcotics in the house. But of course, not a word about how sorry they are (because they aren't) for killing somebody's grandmother.
http://www.reason.com/blog/show/116874.html

[burnthebeautiful]

How could the article neglect mentioning that the police were in plainclothes? That's practically the most important part of the story, and they left it out. If the guys weren't dressed as police and slammed down the door and stormed in, of course the lady thought they were criminals and fired at them!

There should be some kind of thing where if the police is in plainclothes and doesn't identify themselves, you can't get charged with assaulting a police officer. If you don't know it's a cop, you have every reason to believe you're practicing legitimate self-defense.

[Ear]

Sorry, I can't see it from their perspective.  They are enforcing bad laws.  As a result people get killed.

I can't see it from their perspective either.  Warrant or no warrant, the police should not have the right to simply break down the door without warning.  If they knock and loudly identify themselves, and the people inside refuse to open up, then I suppose it's OK to kick the door in, again provided they have a warrant in hand.  Maybe a phone call to the residence being raided would be in order too... "this is the police, we have a warrant and you need to open your door NOW."

Some will say that warning people in houses that are being raided will give them an opportunity to flush their drugs... but ignoring the fact that the War on Drugs should be abandoned altogether anyway, why should they be allowed to go after anyone with an easily flushable amount of drugs in their house?  It's not like five minutes is going to be enough time for a major drug dealer to get rid of all the evidence.