A few firearm things:
1. Civilian or law enforcement, NO ONE trains to shoot in the leg, shoot the gun out of their hand or any other pieces of movie magic. Center of mass/largest target. Look at virtually EVERY SINGLE TARGET in a shooting range.

2. Warning shots are illegal. Bullets that go up, have to come down. I've had a small hole in my roof that I had to have patched years ago because of someone shooting into the air ( https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2020/07/02/the-science-of-why-firing-your-gun-up-into-the-air-can-be-lethal/?sh=78ddf543ff65).

3. Same goes for shooting at the ground. Bullets typically break up when they hit their target and the pieces will often ricochet, which can cause additional harm (unintended) or death. ()

4. There ARE situations where cops have a split second to decide how to disarm a subject. Virtually every officer I know personally (and I know quite a few) will give a verbal command to stop (sometimes several) before opening fire.

5. If Ma'kia Bryant was not clearly on video with a knife in mid-swing and about to connect/stab, the officer would be clearly at fault for excessive use of force. Knife = deadly weapon. I don't see the officer getting any charges over this.

6. Yes, I'm well aware that there are tons of instances where police found ways to de-escalate other situations. I'm well aware that they took murderers like Rittenhouse and Roof into custody alive and well. I've seen (and shared) videos of police with guns drawn on them talk

down white perps (video) instead of automatically going to the firearm first. All of that is true. There *is* a consistent pattern in many cities in the US of police using deadly force against black folks first whereas in similar situations against white folks, they don't.

I'm just pointing out that in that moment in the video, the officer saw two people's lives being threatened by a knife and even with yelling her to stop (which she did not), he escalated to the level of the threat (deadly weapon for deadly weapon). Otherwise, the girl in the pink

would've been stabbed, possibly fatally.

Would a taser have been as effective ? Maybe. Might have stopped her mid-swing, might not. I've seen people shrug off tasers (was the officer carrying one ?).

Investigate away. Since we're talking about the power of life and

death, I think that some of these investigations need to be handled by an outside third party to make sure police aren't doctoring the evidence (as had been done for a while in the Laquan Macdonald case until other video came out).

I think it is terribly sad that a teenage girl is no longer alive. I pray for her family to be comforted by God. I pray for the conflict (because she was not the only aggressor in the video) in the neighborhood/family to end and be resolved. I pray for the officer who now has

to deal with all that comes with a shooting, especially in the current climate of the US. I pray that truth and honesty come out in the investigation.

I also pray for the hearts of the automatic "back the blue" people and the automatic "it's racism" people. You're all running

about with calloused hearts, determined to see only what you want to see. I thank God for justice in yesterday's verdict. I pray that his sentencing is just and Chauvin doesn't get the 'light sentence' treatment that many like him tend to get (vs what would happen if

he was black and convicted of the same crime).

I pray for the body of Christ to leave both of the secular response patterns alone (both anti-wokeism/CRT-chasing and anti-racism) and return to scripture.

*continues sipping Celsius*