Monday marked the very first time
Iceland police have ever shot and killed someone. Generally Iceland police do
not carry weapons because they feel that it is threatening. The man who was
killed experienced a long history of mental illness. He had been making threats
to his neighbors, prompting police to evacuate the building. The man began to
fire shots at the police officers. A little over an hour later the police
entered his apartment where he continued to fire shots at them. The shots that
were fired in response fatally wounded the man. The police force has expressed
regret and has extended condolences to the victim’s family. Most people in the
nation are shocked at this incident. “Iceland enjoys a low crime rate – a
unique product of its large stable middle class and its thorough screening
requirements for gun permits, among other elements” (Grenoble, 2013). This
marks the first police shooting that has resulted in death since the force
began in 1944. What is more interesting to me is how many Americans are shocked
that no one has ever been killed by the police. I showed many of my friends the
article and they were in total disbelief. It is as if we’ve become accustomed
to police being a violent force. There are so many police shootings that we
don’t even hear about because we are taught that this kind of violence is
protective. While in many instances it is indeed protecting citizens, there
have been way too many innocent lives lost due to police violence.
Observation: Jonathan Ferrell, a 24-year-old former A&M
Florida football player, was shot multiple times by police. He was running
toward the police to ask for help after he’d been in a car accident.
Comment #25
ReplyDeleteVery well written post! I have to admit that I was shocked to hear that this was the first time in Iceland’s history that something like this had happened. Even more surprising is how the police officers reacted. Maybe it’s just the media’s portrayal of our law enforcement, but regret doesn’t seem to be a key characteristic expressed by U.S police officers, especially in cases where they had to take a person’s life in self-defense.
I also could not believe the young man was shot while running for help. Did you see the article of the woman who was in a car wreck and walked to a house in the neighborhood close by, knocked on the door, and a man shot her and then tried to claim self-defense? It's an interesting story
ReplyDeleteThis is the FIRST time it's happened? I'm deeply saddened for that young man's family, and even more distraught about the state of affairs in our country, forget about just in our city.
ReplyDeleteWow thanks for sharing this. Something I definitiely want to look at now. I think the idea of a police having to for the "first" time kill someone was never a possibility in my mind, rather it was a normalcy.
ReplyDeleteI actually wrote about Jonathan Ferrel and Renisha Mcbride in one of my blog posts also. Definitely feel like race was a major factors in those cases.