72 Year-Old-Man Shot Dead By Trigger Happy Cops In His Own Garage

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
Seems like cops get into some ridiculous tunnel vision trap where the only people in the world are themselves and the mythical "bad guy" they are allegedly looking for.

The rest of the world falls back into simply being set props and no other people are expected or allowed to be present. Like a game. Just them, the target and a bunch of NPC's that only there for atmosphere.

Then something moves and they react like frightened monkeys.

It's never their fault of course. It's our fault we exist. It's our fault they're at the wrong address. It's our fault we wondered what that noise outside was. It's our fault we want to protect ourselves.

The sickest part is that if the cops werent in their little costumes the old guy may have had the drop on them but thanks to their little costumes the old guy may have very well thought he was safe and held back his reaction at the sight of "friendlies." Notice the cops didnt hold back.

Maybe we should have funny little costumes too?

You pretty much hit all the points right there Guy.

The armed to the teeth thugs passing themselves off as 'protectors of the community' are nothing more than an execution squads roaming the streets.

We need to wake the rest of society up and numbers are a good way. ]

Every precinct should be 'required' to publish daily...

The total dollar amount it takes from the community in the form of Taxes to run the precinct, Tickets written assorted fines and fees and a dollar amount of confiscated property.

The dollar amount of property stolen from the community by non police

The dollar amount of property recovered by police and returned to the owner.

The number and severity of injuries/deaths caused by police (Beatings, tazings, shootings etc)

The number and severity caused by non police (beatings shootings, stabbings etc.)

If this data were published where everyone could see, It would cause a revolution overnight b because it would show so plainly that the police are nothing more than revenue generating robbers of the people under the thinnest guise of 'public safety' What a joke.

reply to post by jrod

Originally posted by jrod
This happens. When cops see a gun they are conditioned to shoot. I know there are many well trained police out there, but it only takes one trigger happy cop on a call for this to happen.

It is unfortunate. There is often little recourse for the victim's family, they are usually told that you should have called 911 first.

I'll call a mayday on ch.16 before I ever dial 911 for good reason.

Police have declared war on the American populace. They are an army and we are the enemy in their eyes.

The non cops should start boycotting the police. Do not sell them anything, do not fix anything for them. They will soon (a month or two if that) realize that they are not supermen.

How the hell...?

On his own property?

In his own garage?

An old man?!

How the HELL did they mistake him for a robber? He wasn't in the house of question. He wasn't carrying loot. And--hello--he was an OLD MAN. What old man runs around and robs houses?!

Trigger happy cops, indeed. Disgusting.

Poor guy, God bless him.

reply to post by VforVendettea


I realize this.

The average American is too hypnotized by FB, cable TV, MSM, Rx Meds and live in perpetual state of fear to realize this. Cops make them feel safe and unless someone close to them is a victim of police brutality the will continue living as if nothing is wrong.

I've come to realize very few are aware of what's really going wrong.

did this guy have a window looking directly across the street?...didn't he see the patrol car?...if he did, why would he show himself to the police with a gun in his hand?....why didn't he stay inside with the gun? ....for me, "stupid" can get you killed, and that is what happened to this guy.

Originally posted by sligtlyskeptical
30 years ago i locked myself out the house and a neighbor saw my legs go through the bedroom window. A few minutes later i walked out the garage and had 5 cops with their guns trained on me. Today i think i would be dead instead of just having to change my underwear.

Kudos to the Miami Shores police department back then.

if you came out with a gun you would be dead no doubt.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


The sheep need to see the wolves for what they are.

Originally posted by rayuki


if you came out with a gun you would be dead no doubt.

I've never been in a situation where I had to use deadly force, but if faced with that kind of situation I will conceal my weapon until I need to fire. This is the best option because they police won't see my gun and open fire, and if I am confronting a bad guy I feel I am at an advantage if he doesn't know I'm armed until I fire.

Originally posted by caladonea

Originally posted by StoicMystic

Living that much of a life to be riddled with bullet holes, dead, on your own property... This is disgusting, we need reform, or a revolution.

There really has been just too much of this sort of thing going on regarding the reckless behaviors of some law enforcement and their bad decisions.

Seriously I think a revolution may happen sooner than we think; if reform does not happen now.

I agree, and I think the sooner-the-better ! We need to take back our nation before it's too late. I've never revolted against anything in my life, but it wouldn't take much to get me on-board. And I think a lot of others out there feel the same way.

R.I.P. Jerry Waller - Murdered May 28, 2013

I'm not going to get too far into it, so let me just say that my heart goes out to the family.

Poor old man....I'm sure he deserved better.

reply to post by StoicMystic


I'm typically a guy who says, "not all cops are like this". And I still believe that, but in my opinion this is happening all to often. Something seriously needs to happen. The ENTIRE police force should go through a psych test and re-do their police exams. Just to weed out the loonies. And more stringent psych evaluations should help stop those who shouldn't be police officers at bay.

So sad....

Welcome to the Police States of America....

R.I.P. Jerry Waller

youtu.be...

Originally posted by Acidcookie
So sad....

Welcome to the Police States of America....

R.I.P. Jerry Waller

youtu.be...

Thanks for the video, going ahead and posting it for instant viewing.

Originally posted by jimmyx
did this guy have a window looking directly across the street?...didn't he see the patrol car?...if he did, why would he show himself to the police with a gun in his hand?....why didn't he stay inside with the gun? ....for me, "stupid" can get you killed, and that is what happened to this guy.

No. You apparently did not comprehend what the article says.

The man and his wife were in their own home, awakened at 1:00 a.m. by bright lights and sounds in their yard. He didn't know there were cops there. He went out to investigate. One of the cops shot and killed him on his own property. He had done nothing illegal.

The cops shot first and asked questions later. But later was too late to decide whether it was an appropriate circumstance for the use of lethal force. These cops had been dispatched to investigate a burglary at a house across the street. What were they doing making noise in his yard? There's something very fishy about the description of what happened here.

Cops who can't find their way to the correct address of a burglary in progress to which they had been dispatched? They have GPS and spot lights in their cruisers. How did they end up going onto the wrong property? I hope these cops were given an alcohol and drug test on the spot.

If there had been a burglar on his property, no cops around, and he had gone out to investigate, and had been shot by the burglar, would you still say he was stupid? Or if he had gone out to investigate without a gun and was shot and killed, would that have been stupid?

UPDATE BASED ON NEWS VIDEO in preceding link:

The CBS News video gives a somewhat different picture than the news article. The following is nearly verbatim audio from the video:

Also, Police shot and killed a man on his own property. We update the investigation into what happened at Fort Worth. That's where we start this afternoon at 5. Thanks for being here. I'm Doug Dunbar. Karen is off today.

So it all started with a false alarm and soon after that this 72 year old man [displays a photo of Jerry Waller] was dead. Now two Fort Worth police officers are on leave. (unintelligible) reports live from Woodhaven Country Club in East Fort Worth with the rest of the story us, Arzo:

(unintelligible) family tell me the 72 year old woke up in the middle of the night, heard his neighbors' alarm and wanted to check it out. So he came outside from the back of his house coming down this driveway. But he didn't even make it across the street. He was shot and killed right here on his own property.

Around Woodhaven Country Club people know each other. Neighbors are close. He was doing what neighbors do. He was checking on the neighbor that the alarm went off. But Jerry Waller never got to check on his neighbor. Police responding to a burglary shot and killed him in his own driveway. Investigators say he was armed.

[Female witness] says "we heard five shots." Becky Haskin, a former Fort Worth City Council member lives nearby, "They were just rapid fire. One shot after another." Haskins says, "What is heartbreaking is that it was a false alarm."

The alarm across the street from Waller went off on accident.

Female police officer says: "The officers felt threatened by the man with the handgun and he was shot."

Witness Haskins says: "The police officers were sobbing uncontrollably and very distraught."

For this normally quaint neighborhood - [a woman speaks saying] "this neighborhood is quiet" -- Waller's death is devastating. His family has always been very involved with their neighbors. Haskins says, "They're just a nice retired couple that lived there, and love working in their yard, and you know, having family and grandkids.

And we've been asking questions and trying to get answers from Forth Worth Police all day, but been told repeatedly that this is an ongoing investigation. In the meantime, what I can tell you is the two officers who responded to this call were not hurt and they've been placed on administrative leave.

a good start would be to raise the IQ level entrance requirement instead of lowering it

A man whose bid to become a police officer was rejected after he scored too high on an intelligence test has lost an appeal in his federal lawsuit against the city

abcnews.go.com...

I worked night shift at a gas station for a summer when I was in collage, and a cop a few years older than me would come in every night and chat and get some piggy snacks.He took a liking to me and would have me come out to the car and watch his encounters with perps that day or night in his car....within weeks that turned into him taking me on ride alongs and us looking for suspicious perps to pull over and him go take their drugs for us to use. As much fun as it was at the time....I'm ashamed of it today and I can tell you that the difference in the criminal and the cop these days is the uniform.

This is absolutely disgusting!

First of all, the cops were at the wrong house. The man just heard something, he had no way of knowing if it was cops or burglars. IMO, he was not in the wrong even if he drew his gun. If I were in his position, I would draw first, then identify the person. I'd bet he acted in the same manner. At his age he likely did not have the greatest vision, so he may have needed some time to identify the perpetrators. I'm sure he would not have shot at police officers, but they made the decision to kill him, probably before he even knew that they were cops.

I really hope that his wife & family pursue some sort of justice. I know nothing can replace this man's life, but something needs to be done to show that this is not okay. If the officers had only made one mistake, it may be easier to dismiss, but going to the wrong house AND killing a resident is just too much.

There is one scenario in which the officers could catch some slack. Now I have no idea if this is the case, but if the alarm went off at a house, the alarm company likely called the police. IF the alarm company made a mistake & gave the police the wrong address, then the cops would not have known they had the wrong house. I doubt this happened, but there is always a slight chance.

reply to post by defcon5

At the same time, there is a reason its called a “concealed weapons” permit... As in you are supposed to have it concealed unless you are in imminent danger. He should not have had the gun in hand to go outside looking into what was happening. For that matter, he should not have gone outside at all. He should have called the police, then stayed in his house and protected himself and his wife. Honestly, is there anything in anyone’s garage that is worth getting killed over, whether it be by the police or a criminal?

If you're speaking about the elderly gentleman, I don't think "concealed carry" is in any way relevant. If he was on his own property when he was shot, concealed carry is entirely irrelevant.

A person can walk around his or her own property carrying a gun if that person likes and should not have to worry about being shot.

The cops were at the wrong house. While they might have shined a light, etc, as you stated, this is an elderly man on his own property, defending his property, likely confused, disoriented from lights, etc this is not justifiable in shooting him.

Cops do not—should not— have the right to shoot a person on his own property when they are in the wrong simply because the person did not heed, obey, etc.

reply to post by defcon5


Another great response - there was bad judgment all around.

Despite being armed (and most likely a bit slow) he obviously was not a flight risk and due to his age, even if it was in the daytime and he could see me clearly, I would have assumed the old man was confused or a bit senile and it would have taken something extraordinary for me to gun him down like that.

I'm not exactly sure what the heck went on in that exchange before they opened fire on him but it better be good.