Mike said:
I wasn't there but how could she have appeared to be a threat when she exited the car with no weapon?
by the latest accounts she was still in the car...
I believe the window was down..
as an officer on the scene, you only have the multiple reports of shots fired and her immediate actions to make the judgement in a split second..
one a gun is drawn the expectation is to use it for deadly force..
given her state, the multiple reports of shots fired, and not knowing what is going to happen each officer was at an elevated state of adrenalin,.. one that can't be duplicated in training..
once the first officer shoots it is like a domino effect.. and the other officers react and having already drawn their guns and aimed that reaction is often to shoot until something jars their attention..
we at least trained on that aspect a little in my training. initially without the warning that the other shots were "friendly" most fired as well,.. several emptied their entire clip on the target..
the second attempt ended with most of the trainees getting shot first..
lesson learned,.. damned if you do,.. dead if you don't
I do realize all the shots fired were from other police/Secret Service agents,.. but an officer at the final scene would not have that information.