Police Shoot Dead Grandfather, 72, While Searching the Wrong Home for Burglar

http://www.theblaze.com ^ | 07/27/2013 | Jason Howerton

[redreno]

Police in Fort Worth, Texas, are blaming “poor lighting” after two officers went to the wrong home in search of a possible burglar and ended up shooting a 72-year-old man dead in his garage. The officers, who are both in their first year with Fort Worth PD, were responding to a burglary alarm on May 28 when the tragic mistake occurred.

“Due to poor lighting conditions, and officers attempting to arrive on the scene undetected,” the cops approached the home of Jerry Waller by mistake, according to an affidavit. The house they were actually supposed to go to was across the street.

[Errant]

Sounds like the police really did act stupidly...

[EEGator]

Wonderful. /s

[GeronL]

They shot a dead man?

//I know I know

[TheMom]

I clicked on this thread because I wanted to read how the shot a dead grandfather.

[FlingWingFlyer]

I guess we won’t be seeing any “Justice for Grandpa” rallies in 100 cities though, huh?

[C210N]

Police Shoot Dead Grandfather, 72, While Searching the Wrong Home for Burglar...

What I'd like to know is, if the Grandfather was dead, why did Police shoot him?

[Chode]

poor bastard might be alive if he only had a dog...

[South40]

Sounds justified. He probably drew down on them. /s

[South40]

Practice?

[KoRn]

So they shot a dead guy? (what horrific writing)

Do they have an editor of any kind? Do they read their “work” before submitting it?

[Mouton]

Did they get the dog too???

[GeronL]

Stupid headline writers can at least be entertaining

[Slings and Arrows]

But the officers got to go home at the end of their shift, that's the important thing. </sarc>

[C210N]

I thought it was just an example of some form of vicious homicidal necrophilia

[Revolting cat!]

What’s the news then, if the grandfather was already dead?

[KarlInOhio]

Oh, if only someone would invent a device which can provide a map for the police. Or maybe the cops could remember the even/odd pattern most cities follow for the sides of the streets.

[PA Engineer]

Practice?

Obamacare.

[TArcher]

Who shot Jason Howerton’s editor?

[Jeff Head]

Is this the actual title? It says in the title that they shot a Dead Grandfather. While horrible to contemplate, it is not nearly as tragic as what they actually did in shooting an innocent man, a grandfather, dead because they went to the wrong house.

This type of thing happens far too often. Growing up in the late 50s through the 60s, you almost never heard of any such thing. Even the 70s and 80s it was rare. Now it seems to happen all the time.

[Jet Jaguar]

I'm sure the cops had conditioning training to not hesitate.

[pallis]

Charge them with first degree murder, and lock them up. Maybe it will make the next cop think before killing some innocent civilian.

[chiefqc]

There was no dog so they had to shoot something, the grandfather.

[EEGator]

First degree is pre-meditated. They should pay a price, but I highly doubt they planned to kill him before arriving.

[dragnet2]

Bookmark

[Nebr FAL owner]

It used to be that to be a cop you had to read at least at the 5th grade level , WTF has happened to that very very low standard?

[Jeff Winston]

I clicked on this thread because I wanted to read how the shot a dead grandfather.

Publik skoolz.

[The_Media_never_lie]

They could not have killed a man who was already dead.

[bunkerhill7]

Cops don`t know which side of the street the even-numbered houses are on? What morons!

[dragnet2]

What’s the news then, if the grandfather was already dead?

Hey, they shoot a dead man....After going to the wrong house....

Welcome to Texas.

[Pining_4_TX]

That is what I was wondering.

[skr]

A horrible situation for all involved. Sending prayers for the families and loved ones of the victim and the police officers.

[JLS]

No actually it does not say they shot a Dead Grandfather. It says they shot dead a grandfather. Saying someone was “shot dead” is pretty standard English, though maybe it is from old time westerns. I will agree the way the term “Shoot Dead” is used in the headline allows for confusion. A simple article as in “Police Shoot Dead a Grandfather, 72, While Searching....” would have avoided the possibility of this confusion. Braver police would have avoided the need to write such a headline all together.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

DUMBASSES

[BigCinBigD]

It was Fort Worth. They probably thought he was a cow.

[petitfour]

Did he growl at them or bare his teeth? Maybe he leaned toward them. Maybe he was holding a hammer in his garage when the cops broke in and charged toward him. You just never know.

[TigersEye]

Everyone should send their local PD a phone book.

[Texas Fossil]

“The family has also accused the police department of “misrepresenting details of the incident” in media interviews.”

—

It was previously stated, but I will repeat. This type of incident is happening more often and we must find a way to avoid this type of tragedy.

[LouAvul]

DUMBASSES

COPS

[Little Pig]

Motion detector-triggered lights around your house, including under-eaves lighting. Tie it into an alarm inside the house; not a siren, just an alert that someone is outside. Maybe add in cameras that begin recording once the lights go on.

Half the reason these idiots get away with this kind of thing is that they’re able to get into the house before anyone is ready. I realize that such is their intent, but they can’t avoid everything. Get them lit up and exposed, IOW completely remove the element of surprise, and they will have a harder time following the rest of the scenario.

[freebilly]

Sounds like the dead guy’s widow needs to be fined for not having better lighting....

[null and void]

Well I'll be!

The training works!

[null and void]

That’s what I get for not reading the whole thread before posting...

[SaraJohnson]

Due to poor lighting conditions, and officers attempting to arrive on the scene undetected,”

---

Next time it would be a good idea to be able to see who you are shooting before firing.

That poor man’s family, friends and neighbors. : (

We would go to jail for killing the wrong guy at a crime scene. The excuse of “I could not see who I was shooting” probably would not go over real big.

[Jet Jaguar]

My bad.

I should have pinged ya...

[Right Brother]

Grandpa was probably shot while shielding his dog.

[Ultra Sonic 007]

Why am I reading so many stories of police getting the address wrong before going in all gung-ho?

Is it really that hard to get a simple address right? I mean, really?

[roadcat]

Dumb cops. If that happened to a family member I’d track them down later. I have motion-triggered security lights, and video cameras with sound. So my wife would know if they announced a warning or not. Just hope she would be able to hide the camera hard drive so the cops don’t steal it. The lights come on just about every night, mostly racoons and skunks but they might catch killer cops someday.

[Gene Eric]

Well, he was exceedingly post-natal.

[Gene Eric]

>> Is it really that hard to get a simple address right? I mean, really?

Even if the address was correct, what’s the justification for the killing?