Armed robbery suspect fatally shot by police outside Vt. school

[matt819]

http://www.wcax.com/content/news/Robbery-suspect-cornered-at-Montpelier-High-School-469552973.html

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An armed robbery suspect was fatally shot by police on a football field at Montpelier High School Tuesday morning. And it all happened while class was in session.


It started with an alleged armed robbery at a credit union in Montpelier. Police say at about 9:30 a.m., a man held up the Vermont State Employees Credit Union on Bailey Avenue. Employees and members were in the branch but no one was hurt. The suspect fled on foot toward Montpelier High School where he was confronted by police.

That's when WCAX News arrived on scene and started rolling our cameras. Our crew watched from a few hundred yards away for about a half hour. During that time, troopers had the suspect surrounded. Eventually, they saw him get closer and closer to police, who then opened fire.

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Here's the problem. The police were talking to this guy for 50 minutes. Almost an hour. Disclaimer. I'm not a cop. But surely in that hour police could have figured out a way a) to keep talking or b) to disable this guy without killing him. Bean bag, maybe? I don't know. But surely professional negotiators and professional law enforcement officers could have figured this out. Granted, I read in the papers that this guy was no saint, and clearly he was a lousy bank robber. But a police imposed death sentence? That seems extreme. I could understand if it was heat of the moment, or a chase, or others were at risk. But the school was on lockdown, they were talking to him for almost an hour. Surely this could have had a non-fatal outcome.