THE POLICE PROBLEM

Cop: Pardon me sir....

Shooter: Points gun

Cop: Ah, I see you're a busy white man, Ill leave you to it.

to be fair if I was on a ladder and got to the top and there was a dude pointing a gun at me, I could be the most elite warrior there is and still know the best option is retreat.

So, after this incident with Trump, does anybody really think the best solution to political violence is to allow more people at political rallies to carry guns? Sounds stupid, right? Because thats basically the response with every other shooting.

You apologists are fucking cowards. ACAB!

Considering the circumstances I'd argue he's one of the few cops to protect and serve. Really the secret service here who dropped the ball. Coulda let em have a second go.

Local police shouldn't be the ones protecting the presenditial candidates, they should be protecting the crowd. Secret Service is there for the candidate.

One officer climbed to the roof and encountered Crooks, who pointed his rifle at the officer. The officer retreated down the ladder

"only pointing at a cop" is how you know it wasn't a leftist or anarchist.

This seems to be the right-wing's main angle of attack on this issue. Seeing how forcefully they're pushing this fact across social media I'm kind of resistant to going along with any narrative they are trying to build from it until more facts come out.

I saw the interview with the guy who said he saw the shooter and he came off as kind of a doofus, he more or less said the extent they went to alert anyone was just pointing. You've got to remember that this was a rally for some deeply stupid people, I'm sure it adds to the security difficulties to have to suss out what's just idiots being idiots and what is useful info.

I think the reality is more simple; people overestimate the abilities of the Secret Service. I am sure they're experts and highly trained, but they're still human, and the mythos around their abilities is likely overblown to an extent. History has shown that if someone is determined enough, they can get close to the president if they want.

"Eh fuck it, let him roll them dice"

– this cop, probably

Officer was actually based. "I don't see nothing wrong here, carry on citizen"

Tbh, after reading the link, I don't blame anyone with a rifle pointed at them to climb back down, cop or no. The whole situation was handled so poorly tho and is 100% going to increase voilent tensions.

You can't help a situation if you're dead.

Tactical retreat and getting backup/informing the secret service sniper team was a better play, and safer.

I assume that the message simply took too long to make it through all the interdepartmental channels, and he was able to get shots off.

Realistically, WTF was the cop supposed to do? If he proceeded forward, he'd probably get shot. Without checking in to dispatch to report the presence of the shooter and that he was on scene in the company of a guy with a rifle, then dispatch would have been very slow to respond, if they responded at all.

Talk to the guy? He's clearly deadset on doing something. You don't climb on a roof with a rifle without a plan and the will to execute that plan. Talking to him is going to either agitate him or just get the officer shot.... The chances that the cop could have talked him down, even if the Leo had expert negotiation training, is slim at best.

The standard carry equipment for a police officer is pretty limited. It's not like he has grenades or something, and don't forget, at this point he's on a fucking ladder with a rifle pointed at his dome at point blank range. Calling for someone with the correct equipment and training to get onto the roof to handle the guy, with the correct equipment to do so, and/or, have a fully trained sharpshooter that's already positioned nearby take that shot, is a better way to handle the situation.

Look, I'm not going to defend the police about what happened at Uvalde, or any other school shooting, but in this scenario, given the options, falling back to call reinforcements was the right call.

Maybe this is poorly described and the shooter literally turned and shot as the cop ducked back down the ladder… but that cop should’ve been on radio or firing his sidearm into the dirt or SOMETHING immediately after going back down a step or two. But this reads like he just went back down and wandered off.

They could head off a lot of questions by saying he went down a step and radioed immediately so people think the cop at least tried lol