Authorities described the student as a juvenile male but did not provide further identification or specifics pending an investigation

Wisconsin police shot and killed a student who officials say came to a local middle school with a gun. The student never got into the school, but as a precaution the entire district was put on a lockdown late Wednesday morning.

Students have since been reunited with their parents, some of whom waited up to five hours for their children to be dropped at a bus storage center in Mount Horeb, a village about 20 miles south-west of Madison, the state capital, according to WMTV 15 news.

No other students or staff were injured in the shooting, Josh Kaul, Wisconsin’s attorney general, said during a Wednesday news conference.

  • Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Yet we’re discussion an instance where a kid brings a gun to school and is killed and sounds like you’re assuming the cop is automatically wrong.

    They are not, however, unique in this. What’s unique to them is that they are issued a firearm, granted qualified immunity, treated as heroes by default, and dropped into a union often willing to sacrifice public safety as a “bargaining” tactic.

    Agreed on that as well. The police union is out of control. I also have issue with stories of police harassing and terrorizing anyone that comes at them and holding them accountable. Even lawyers at time sound like they are afraid to do this because the work with police often in courts and doing so would put a target on them.

    I think over time the job probably affects the brain in a way most people don’t sympathize with. Its something I don’t understand. I laugh and get angry at all the same videos you all do. I go through phases where I hate cops and phases where I understand its not easy what they do. I just don’t feel like the current sentiment is accurate.

    • theparadox@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Yet we’re discussion an instance where a kid brings a gun to school and is killed

      Last I understand it, there is no additional context. No shootout, nobody held at gunpoint, etc. Just “a report of an individual with a weapon” or “a report of a person with a gun”. No injuries reported other than a dead student. Other articles I’ve read never explicitly state the student had a gun. Not saying they didn’t - it’s just not clear to me.

      It sounded like you are assuming the cops were automatically right and that the student was a clear and present danger. The way things are going, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out it was a minority kid with an airsoft or squirt gun.

      While I admit that police work can be stressful, it’s often because they refuse to let it be otherwise. “Defund the police” was a movement to ensure police were only called when needed and that other types of emergency responders who are trained to handle domestic situations or unstable individuals… but the unions wanted the money.

      Overtime isn’t exactly because they are short staffed… it’s often because it pays well. I’ve heard of officers fighting to get more overtime or being denied it as a form of punishment.

      The whole system is fucked and it has gotten to the point where being a cop means you haven’t been ostracized and kicked out for trying to fix it or left in disgust. It means you are part of the problem. That’s why ACAB.