Did the police know him? If so, they certainly could radio for his history. If they did so, they would know that he was a criminal with a history of gun violence.
The reports so far has suggested that the man did not give them a name, or talk to them. Maybe they ran the plates on his car, and knew who it was. Or maybe they didn’t even know if it WAS his car.
Hence one possibility, a man with a knife in his hand looks like he is getting into a car, the officer tries to stop him, and when he looks in, he sees a kid in the front seat, and the man with the knife reaching for the kid, and so he shoots the man. He doesn’t know the kid is the man’s son — and frankly, men are known to use their kids as hostages, so I’m not sure it would matter.
Just speculation. Eventually, after the riots have gone a few days, we might learn something.
“gun violence.”
I hate that framing. Nobody would say car violence.