Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Mannheim Shooting

 Some odd incident from Saturday afternoon in Mannheim.

What the police say....some guy called them up and confessed to a crime.  He wanted them to come and 'talk'.  Yeah, this part of the story does seem odd.

They show up, and the guy is standing there....holding a knife.  I should note this is in daylight hours and some video does exist of the short meeting between the guy and the police.  It would appear around a dozen people standing around and watching this unfold....from a safe distance (at least twenty meters away).  

The guy?  Forty-nine years old and a Turk.

From what I observed (from the video)....there is some marginal conversation between the cops (at least five or six) and the guy....out in some street.  There's probably about four meters of distance between them.  

No shirt, on a pretty brisk day....so this is another odd part of the story.

At some point, the guy starts stepping toward the cops....one of them fires at least three shots....killing the guy.

So, what you find out later....locals considered the guy a bit of a nutcase or unbalanced. 

Criticism?  Oh yeah, lot of people (via social media) suggesting it was not right to shoot the guy.  Tasers readily available?  Well....in some states, yes, and in some states no.  It does appear from the group at this incident...none were carrying tasers. 

I should note this as well....lot of criticism existing in Germany over potential taser use because if you have a weak heart....it'll kill you when the 'zap' occurs.  

Fair criticism?  After viewing the video....just seemed to be too little space between the police and the guy....but he wasn't listening to the police calls to put the knife on the ground.  If you were looking for a 'suicide-by-police' angle....this story seems to be loaded.  

Added note: If you view Twitter presently, there must be at least 8 different video prospective (line of sight) of the guy approaching the cops and the shooting.

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