Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Police Shoot, Kill Man Armed With Knife In Winchester

The New Hampshire Attorney General's Office said they are investigating a fatal officer-involved shooting in Winchester.
It happened around 9 p.m. Monday. Early Tuesday morning, officers could still be seen at the apartment building at the corner of Keene Road and Mechanic Street where the shooting took place.According to the Attorney General's office, the incident began when four police officers responded to a family dispute at the apartment building. Officers said a woman on the scene said her husband was inside, armed with a knife and suicidal.Officers tried stopping the man using tasers as he advanced toward them with the knife, but the man did not stop. One of the officers shot and killed the man. His identity has not yet been released.

An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why is it every time some cop pulls his gun it's always a fatal shooting? Aren't they trained to use digression and shoot to wound or is it their John Wayne attitudes that get the best of them? If they had used their tasers properly no one would have needed to fire a gun.

Anonymous said...

Why is it when something terrible happens, someone is so quick to judge law enforcement? Goodness, the body isn't even cold yet!
I understand being critial of those who protect and serve but it someone is rushing them with a knife, use what means nessesary to leave that incident alive.
Wish Winchester would make the headlines for different reasons....

Ed Lake said...

If you read they tried the tasers. And from what I understand shoot to wound is not a policy, If they need to shoot it is as a last resort and its shoot to kill, Wounded people can still lash out and hurt or kill people.

Anonymous said...

I agree. I have seen these taser guns, and when deployed correctly, the officer can continue to disable the assailant with a series of "5 second rides" as long as the probes are imbedded in the flesh. It will be interesting to see how this story unfolds, and which Officer pulled the trigger....

Former ANG MP said...

Well, I'm not here to defend the Winchester PD, as I feel they are a rather corrupt bunch for the most part. That said, I do have many LE friends, outside of Winchester from my days as a Mass Guard MP. Police or military for that matter, seldomly shoot to kill. You are trained to shoot for the center of mass and to shoot to stop. It's not practical to shoot to wound or to hard to aim for a leg or arm, to small a target and moving faster then center of mass.
Yes, LEO's are trained to do many things, including discretion, BUT training in and using it are 2 totally differant things. I'm not sure if Winchester PD carries tazers or something similar. IF they do, It sure sounds like this may have been a situation to use it, BUT I wasn't there so none of us can be sure. I'm usually one that will be fast to defend any PD and rather slow to second guess them. The Calif police officer that shot a guy on the ground being restrained with his firearm thinking it was his tazer is a big exception, they feel differant in the hand, it's not a mistake you could make very easy at all. Most things with the Winchester PD are another, most a quick to judge, thinking or at least acting like judge, jury and person to carry out the punishment, unless they are their friends or selectmen they like.

Anonymous said...

Enough lets look at the whole picture we cant write this wrong but we need look at the level of training here i have had my issues with winchester pd but this is happening state wide we need to ask this is there a a national certication for police no there is not and why ts that when there is a nattional certifcation for emts why not start asking our law makers to make this happen i know that each state has different laws but bottom line make a national standard and have each state add their own modules and then every one is on the same page then lets take a peak at the age of these officers my understanding is one of these officers is only twenty years old unless the law has changed u cant carry a hand until you are twenty one years old then who hired this kid and how did the state certify this officer because if law has changed then we need 2 look at any may be look at our law makers start encouraging these victims famies to going after our law makers for wrong death if u have kids being cops what do expect to happen would give a kid a gun and certify him to be a cop no i would tell him thanks but no thanks but due the nature of this bussiness there is an age requirement what we need to say here is nice job state of new hampshire and gary philipps were are you going to hire the next officer from the learning center shame on you gary

the Winchester Informer said...

We didn't publish your comments Lou as we felt they were nothing more than a personal attack on the poster above regarding their grammar and sentence structure. None of us is brilliant enough to pass judgment on others for they way they express themselves.If you have a comment on the subject we'll be glad to post it, otherwise don't waste your time or ours.

Anonymous said...

So what's taking so long for this investigation? Why won't they release the names of the officers and who pulled his gun? What are they hiding? Another cover up I suppose, this was just so wrong.

Richard said...

I disagree that some national certification for police is needed anymore then some standardized test works for schools. They will just be taught to the test, nothing more. I think as a town, with decent people on the select board, should set the standards... Part of the issues we all have with the Winchester PD might well stem from the bad select board we have now... It;s usually related...

Anonymous said...

We have a 5 member select board and one is a retired police officer and one is a current police officer and the other 3 are regular people so why do we have such a bad police department

Anonymous said...

Check today's sentinel (7/8) and you will find that it was a Swanzey officer that fired the shot. The officer in question has 25 years experience. According to the AG he followed proper procedure. I know that things are not perfect in this town but sometimes we are very quick to pass judgment.Yes, we do have to give the Winchester officer credit for calling for backup and not being a cowboy. Some of them can follow the rules!

What do you believe? said...

The shooting results are in today's Sentinel. 7/8 Regardless of how it happened, most people don't have much trust in the police or the AG's office.

Anonymous said...

So which was it? Read today's paper and there is conflicting stuff in the official report. Says the guy died from a gunshot to the upper arm that penetrated his chest, then the officer is quoted as saying he shot him in the left shoulder. Why in hell shoot him at all if he was being tasered by two officers? How in hell is this justified. The AG's office don't do crap when it comes to cops, it's always justified in their eyes.

longhaul trucker said...

The sad thing about this whole thing is, a man lost his life and an officer has to live with that the rest of his. It's always easy to sit on the fence and throw stones

Richard said...

To: Anonymous said...
We have a 5 member select board and one is a retired police officer and one is a current police officer and the other 3 are regular people so why do we have such a bad police department... July 7, 2011 9:47 PM

That IS the reason, there is no separation of powers, the fox is watching the hen house, so to speak. Look at who the "regular" people are you refer to...

Anonymous said...

What did you expect? Cops no matter what are always justified even when it's wrong. There was no reason to draw or shoot a gun if this man was being tasered by two officers at the same time.