Texas Cops Shoot Schizophrenic 80 Times, Then do Fist-Bump

[99th_Monkey]

TEXAS POLICE SHOOT SCHIZOPHRENIC 80 TIMES, FACE UNRECOGNIZABLE, FIST BUMP AFTER
Posted on September 4, 2014 * by Joshua Schwitzerlett

Officials are investigating a shooting that occurred in Laredo, Texas early Saturday morning. Family members of the the deceased claim that police officers unloaded approximately 80 rounds at their son, a schizophrenic known to the local police department.

He was armed with a replica pellet pistol.

Around 1:50 a.m. Saturday morning, six police officers arrived on the scene of the Gateway Truck Stop to find Jose Walter Garza. Within five minutes of arrival, the officers began firing at Garza. Officials have not confirmed the number of shots that were fired. “We are looking at all possible aspects, hoping to speak to all possible people who are eyewitnesses or may have had a run in with this individual,” investigator Joe E. Baeza told NYDaily News. “There’s a lot of ground to cover.”

The investigation may should start with the officers the mentally-ill victim has interacted with in the past. According to NYDaily, Garza had a been arrested and was no stranger to the police department. “Garza was well known to officers: he’d been arrested by the local department 30 different times, on charges ranging from assault of a public servant and theft to assault causing bodily injury and criminal trespassing.”

Family members of Garza wonder why the police had to respond with such brutal force and admit that Garza had run-ins with police in the past. “He’s a good kid,” Andrea Martinez said. “Why didn’t they shoot him in the leg or something? Not like that.” The Loredo Morning Times obtained surveillance footage from the gas station that shows scenes from the shooting. At about 1:25, you can see officers standing over Garza’s body engage in what appears to be a “fist bump.” The video does not show the shooting itself but the body does fall into the scene afterward. The video shows Garza’s body.

http://ringoffireradio.com/2014/09/texas-police-shot-schizophrenic-with-pellet-gun-80-times-fist-bump-after/

[Kalidurga]

1. 80 times by definition is over kill

Hope they serve time.

[hifiguy]

35. I would advise you not to hold your breath.

Especially considering it is Texas.

[Kalidurga]

36. I really don't get how anyone would stay in Texas

Yet, I know a guy from Texas and he is homesick.

[BlindTiresias]

2. Welp.

[airplaneman]

3. I got a good laugh out of this one thanks n/t.

[madokie]

8. Whoa!

You got a good laugh out of this one, 'splain yourself otherwise what're you doing here on DU

could it be ETOH talking???

[oldandhappy]

4. Sick. Ugly ugly people.

They learned nothing from Ferguson. Wonder if the local population will demonstrate.

[yeoman6987]

5. The guy probably should have been put in jail

He had over 30 police altercations and some were assault and theft. How many more times was he going to get away with breaking the law? Sad case.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

7. He should have been hospitalized

For his mental disorder. Except the 1% don't believe in compassion, and so now jails are where the mentally I'll get no treatment.

[HereSince1628]

10. He may have been at some time... we don't know a lot about this

The severity of schizophrenia can vary between individuals and in the same person over time.

Mark Vonnegut, son of the famous author, earned an MD, practices medicine, and has written several books -after- being diagnosed with schizophrenia.

[n2doc]

26. It's not just the 1%

Mental Health Advocates believe in the policy that you are free to be insane, and that no one can force you to get help.

The 1% just got rid of the free/cheap health care for the mentally ill. All Reagan and his ilk cared about was cutting support.

[kcr]

19. He had all those run ins with the cops because of our horrible lack of treatment options

in this country for the mentally ill. One of the most heartbreaking stories I ever read was written by a a parent of a homeless schizophrenic man and his years of agony trying to get him help.

[Kingofalldems]

23. Fail.

[elehhhhna]

28. think of the cash we save with these timely extrajudicial killings! FUCK YEAH!

[rhett o rick]

29. How can you say he should have been in jail. Apparently the court system doesn't agree

with you. You don't know anything about the charges. Often assaulting an officer happens if you don't cooperate fast enough.

And none of that has anything to do with shooting him 80 f'n times. The police kill with impunity.

[HereSince1628]

6. At roughy 20 seconds in a handgun appears to be kicked away from the victim

80 shots would seem to be excessive and introduced its own dangers to the public, but my guess is the presence of the gun will make the shooting justified.

There are plenty of questions to be asked, including how prior knowledge of the victims illness may have contributed to decisions and actions by police. We can hope that the police investigation will get beyond merely justifying the shooting and clearing the officers.

[madokie]

9. The story said he was armed with a air gun

[HereSince1628]

11. My point is only the appearance of a gun is probably enough to enable justification

for the hail of bullets that were reportedly fired.

[madokie]

12. There is no "Justification" for 80 bullets fired into a body

I'm sure after one, or at best a few, the rest was only into a dead body

[HereSince1628]

13. Yes, I agree with you,

but the event will probably end up recorded as justified on the basis of fear of a gun.

I don't deny in any way that there are multiple perspectives from which to be offended by this news item.

[madokie]

17. We're in agreement

[morningfog]

15. I read that the cops knew it was a BB gun.

They knew before any shots were fired. I'll have to dig that article up.

[yeoman6987]

14. No

He had a weapon (or what they thought was real). I guess an air weapon or bee bee gun look similar. Plus with many prior altercations, I don't think they are going to have demonstrations as you believe. This case is nothing at all like Ferguson.

[morningfog]

16. They knew it was a BB gun, is my understanding.

I'll see of I can find the link I read that on.

[Kingofalldems]

24. How would you know?

[Progressive dog]

18. Link to 9/5 NY Daily news

[link:http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/police-fired-61-shots-killing-man-bb-gun-laredo-truck-stop-article-1.1930058|

[Iggo]

20. Yay, Cops!

They're the best!

[TeeYiYi]

21. Whoda' thunk...

...you could purchase a gun and a bottle of wine in one fell swoop?...

And just hours before the shooting, police interacted with Garza in downtown Laredo after an officer spotted him with another replica BB gun around 9 p.m. last Friday.

Police confiscated that pistol but didn’t arrest him. Garza then went to Walmart and purchased a bottle of wine and another BB gun, police said.

TYY

[Savannahmann]

22. Hey, we have to cut the cops some slack

They have the most dangerous job in the nation.

After Logging workers;

And after Fishers and related fishing workers

And after Aircraft pilot and flight engineers

And after Roofers

And after Structural iron and steel workers

And after Refuse and recyclable material collectors

And after Electrical power-line installers and repairers

Ok, shortly after Drivers/sales workers and truck drivers

And after Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers

And after Construction laborers

Oh FFS. I give up. I'd keep going, but I got bored.

[99th_Monkey]

30. Thanks for debunking the Cop-coddling BS that gets slung around

when discussing police violence. Thanks too for the link (bookmarked) which
I'm sure will come in handy when discussing this topic in the future.

[AnalystInParadise]

25. 80 rounds tend to bleed a lot

Having been in Iraq where we pumped dozens upon dozens of rounds from rifles, pistols, etc. into insurgents, I am failing to see the 80!!!! rounds that supposedly hit this body. 80 rounds even from handguns would do significant damage to a human body. Granted it is black and white video, but can anyone show me the blood trails that 80!!!! rounds would cause? I am willing to believe 80 rounds were fired at the perpetrator, but not buying (at this time) that 80!!! rounds struck the body. I see 8 cops present, if 8 cops emptied their clips (which all police are taught to do) I see 80 rounds being fired.

(For the record, I need a lot more information before I am willing to blame the cops or the guy they shot).

[99th_Monkey]

32. This story says "61 rounds"

Upstring this link was shared, saying it was 61 rounds
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/police-fired-61-shots-killing-man-bb-gun-laredo-truck-stop-article-1.1930058

whatever.

The result is pretty much the same.

[MADem]

27. This reminds me of an incident (also in TX) that happened many years ago.

Same situation, perhaps fewer bullets, but the afflicted was armed with a machete.

It was, in essence, suicide by cop.

[99th_Monkey]

31. Yes, suicide-by-cop sums it up pretty well

Too many bad cops are more than willing to comply.

[MADem]

33. I wish they'd come up with some kind of net--like they use to catch a bear or a lion--that they

can fire at these knife-wavers.

The paradigm is "shoot to kill." We don't have a "shoot to wound" paradigm, even though, in the old Wild West shows, we always saw the hero either "winging" the bad guy or shooting the gun out of his hand.


That gave a lot of people this mistaken idea that law enforcement has, as a primary mission, the preservation of life to include that "bad guy."

I predict that in the outyears--probably after I'm dead--that it will fall out of fashion to kill people as a law enforcement first resort. We'll be more interested in removing them as a threat than removing them from this earth.

After all, they've got to fill those prisons, and with drugs going away as an excuse, they'll need other sorts of lawbreakers. They can't go to jail if they're dead!

[Ms. Toad]

34. So what is this thing police seem to have with handcuffing the body

of the victim after they shoot him? Here and Kajieme Powell.

If the person somehow miraculously survived the shooting, being handcuffed face down with their hands behind their back would almost certainly put an end to that miracle.