After visiting the family and viewing the area first hand I see no way to justify this shooting. The lady that had called the police had asked for an animal control officer which was probably the proper thing to do. Noble officials had no animal control so they sent two police officers to the scene a senior officer and another officer. The lady that had called the police had placed a hoe, a rake, a set of long handled hedge shears out to use to kill the snake. The bird house was a small 4x6 inch birdhouse placed on the corner of a patio under an eve about 7 feet above the ground. The snake was a harmless king snake that had been seen in the garden several times by the childs parents, it had apparently swallowed some bird eggs or small birds and could not get back out of the birdhouse now that it was swollen and was hanging about 3 feet out. With the tools already available for use, how can you justify using a pistol in a residential neighborhood. I will grant the fact that on line-of-sight the child was not visible behind weeds and light brush and appears to be a wooded area. But there was also the sound of the boys mother on a riding mower near by, the boys father in his shop doing metal work on a car, not to mention there could easily be livestock. All of these were in the immediate area in the general direction of the direction he chose to shoot down the hill by the pond not to mention several other homes accross and around the pond. Just because you may not be able to see them does not mean there is nothing there. For a senior officer to reccommend shooting the snake with a high power bullets was sheer negligence. The boys grandfather a well known attorney in the area thought he was the one under attack and sought to cover the grandchildren, but was to late as a bullet killed the child
http://www.koco.com/news/13819962/detail.html
I don’t know if it’s been discussed, but this article mentions that it was the first year on the force for the officer who fired the shots. I suppose the homeowner and the other officer are pretty damned lucky that they didn’t get shot by this guy too.