Millionaire tech entrepreneur shot by cops while defending his home from burglar

[mibro]

'It wasn't me,' said Austin techie who was shot dead by police

A horrifying video shows Austin tech entrepreneur Rajan 'Raj' Moonesinghe being shot dead by local police as he inspected the perimeter of his home with a rifle in his hands.

www.dailymail.co.uk

So sad. Exact example of what NOT to do when a cop shows up at your house. Step 1 - Don't be brown. Also would help - don't be holding a tricked out assault weapon outside where scared neighbors can see. Before the cop car even rolls up your block, you need to make sure gun is nowhere NEAR you, get on the ground on you knees, cross your lower legs and stretch out both hands high in the air and open the webbing of your fingers so the cop can see your hands are no threat -- for AHHFISAHHH SAFETY. By following these sensible directions, you might not be killed by the cop and quad tapped with his patrol rifle as soon as he exits the cruiser. Be prepared to have a scared rookie with a patrol rifle pointed at your head barking orders to get on the ground, get kneed at the back of the neck and cuffed before you have a chance to have a conversation with the cop and apprise him of the situation.

We know white people are slightly more likely to be killed by the police on an encounter-normalized basis.

Mr. Moonesinghe had not learned or been taught how to protect himself from the police, sadly.

 

[mibro]

Ace reporting there. Any physicists wanna calculate how much time it took for sound to travel from the officer's car to the guy? That would mean the officer just opened his mouth to begin the D consonant in 'DROP' before he flipped the switch to auto and landed four shots.

+1. I saw the same stupidity in the story.

 

[weekendracer]

to quote a little eco-twat, “How dare you.” That is one of the best crappy movies ever made!

View attachment 701090

Good movies get forgotten, great movies get quoted 30 years after they are made.

 

[kalash]

You guys need to realize that not every state is like MA and requires you to wet yourself before grabbing a gun. In Texas it's legal to shoot trespassers on sight after dark so I'm not surprised at all that this dude grabbed a rifle and went to see what's going on. This mess seems to be entirely on the trigger-happy cop.

 

[SgtHal75]

View attachment 701086

Isn’t it obvious…. Ppl making everything about race..

 

[mibro]

You guys need to realize that not every state is like MA and requires you to wet yourself before grabbing a gun. In Texas it's legal to shoot trespassers on sight after dark so I'm not surprised at all that this dude grabbed a rifle and went to see what's going on. This mess seems to be entirely on the trigger-happy cop.

Will Mr. Moonesinghe draw any consolation from the fact it was not his fault?

 

[xtry51]

There is a very simple ROE change to prevent all of this.

Police do not get to fire until fired upon.

 

[G4Y4HK]

There is a very simple ROE change to prevent all of this.

Police do not get to fire until fired upon.

Ehh giving potential bad guys a free chance to take the first shot might not be such a good idea. Having cops know at the back of their minds if they do 'use their weapon on duty' they don't automatically get everything taken care of, including paid leave and all civil liabilities paid by the taxpayer is another avenue. Also, no retiring at 28 and getting a pension for the rest of your life after executing a man.

Arizona police officer who fatally shot sobbing man collects $31K a year pension

The shooting of Daniel Shaver by Mesa, Arizona, Officer Philip Brailsford last year was caught on bodycam in a case that drew national scrutiny over the use of deadly force.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[NHKevin]

I'd like to know more....to quote a crappy movie.

If he shot into his own home, was he maybe having a psychotic break? If that possibility is what took place, all bets are off. I didn't read the whole thing, it's a news article, rarely do they have all the facts sorted when they start typing.

Starship Troopers was not a crappy movie.

 

[Kevin_NH]

Ok, race is an issue…an overwhelmingly number of white people are subject to home invasion/crime than brown people. That means that they are overwhelmingly susceptible to being shot by the police when they show up..right?…a home invasion is a home invasion no matter what skin color. Unfortunetily you don’t see it that way because it’s always about the brown race to you.

Numbers posted above were percentage of offenders, not victims; for both stats, cannot compare raw numbers when we're talking about a group which makes up 76% of US population ("White" in the broadest definition) versus 13% (Black).

For victims you'd start with BJS’s National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), which claims "Households with a white head of household were somewhat less likely than those with a black head of household to experience a burglary while a household member was present. Asian and Pacific Islander head of households were the least likely to be present during a burglary"

You are completely ignorant to the fact that more white ppl get shot by cops than brown

The strongest correlation to being shot by cops is testosterone, not skin color.

Digging deeper into police shootings by race (and after adjusting for each race's share of overall population) "white ppl" are less likely to be shot and killed by police, though after adjusting by not just raw population prevalence but also criminal activity, the "shot by cops" rate closely tracks the "committing violent crimes" rate for each major racial subgroup.

 

[jkelly1229]

This is a weird one. I don't see how being brown had anything to do with what happened. I think its more firing a rifle into a house. That tends to put police on edge when they show up. Even if it is your house. Unfortunately, it sounds like the person who was shot was not a perpetrator in the sense that he was an armed burglar, since he was the homeowner.

I didn't see in the video if it showed whether or not he was pointing it at police when they confronted him. So, I don't know if they were justified or not. Its a difficult situation, and I am not in a position to claim to be able to pass judgement on that.

Brown person in whats probably a predominantly white area thats what it had to do.

Its not racism to say that neighborhood is probably mostly white so a non white with a gun shooting into a house... yeah thats gonna get you flagged

The cop shouldnt have just strolled up blasting either though hes not absolved.

 

[G4Y4HK]

... yeah thats gonna get you shot

 

[Palladin]

I think Raj had some chemicals in his body. Walking around aimlessly with the gun, then asking 'do you want some of this?' Maybe he thought he was in a Bruce Willis movie

 

[jkelly1229]

I think Raj had some chemicals in his body. Walking around aimlessly with the gun, then asking 'do you want some of this?' Maybe he thought he was in a Bruce Willis movie

Lol... yeah... i never do that in boxers and a carrier

 

[LakeTrout]

Brown person in whats probably a predominantly white area thats what it had to do.

Its not racism to say that neighborhood is probably mostly white so a non white with a gun shooting into a house... yeah thats gonna get you flagged

The cop shouldnt have just strolled up blasting either though hes not absolved.

Do you think a “white” with a gun shooting into a house when the cops are rolling up would have fared better?

 

[rogersmithiii]

Ace reporting there. Any physicists wanna calculate how much time it took for sound to travel from the officer's car to the guy? That would mean the officer just opened his mouth to begin the D consonant in 'DROP' before he flipped the switch to auto and landed four shots.

Auditory exclusion and tunnel vision.

 

[LakeTrout]

There is a very simple ROE change to prevent all of this.

Police do not get to fire until fired upon

Guns are pretty killy. It’s not like waiting for the other guy to throw the first punch.

No one should have to wait to be shot at before they can fire. Having a gun pointed at you is enough of a reason. I’m not for giving cops the authority to shoot someone who has a gun slung, holstered, or is pointing it in a safe direction. But I am for cops or anyone else having the right to shoot when someone points a gun at them.

I don’t know what happened in this incident. This is just in general context.

 

[Compooky]

I blame the security guard across the street for calling it in.

 

[LakeTrout]

You guys need to realize that not every state is like MA and requires you to wet yourself before grabbing a gun. In Texas it's legal to shoot trespassers on sight after dark so I'm not surprised at all that this dude grabbed a rifle and went to see what's going on. This mess seems to be entirely on the trigger-happy cop.

Nothing to do with him sending rounds into his house from the outside of it though? I can’t tell from the video it the police were justified of not, but I can tell from the video that this dude was outside the house, swinging his gun around like a Chippendale at a bachelorette party. And sending rounds. That tends to escalate things. Still could be unjustified. But damn, if you’re gonna do anything with a rifle and cops on the way, don’t do this.

 

[enbloc]

RIP Raj...

 

[SgtHal75]

I think Raj had some chemicals in his body. Walking around aimlessly with the gun, then asking 'do you want some of this?' Maybe he thought he was in a Bruce Willis

Or Tony Montana

 

[SgtHal75]

Nothing to do with him sending rounds into his house from the outside of it though? I can’t tell from the video it the police were justified of not, but I can tell from the video that this dude was outside the house, swinging his gun around like a Chippendale at a bachelorette party. And sending rounds. That tends to escalate things. Still could be unjustified. But damn, if you’re gonna do anything with a rifle and cops on the way, don’t do this.

Should’ve just stayed at the low ready….

 

[VetteGirlMA]

One more reason why police are completely unnecessary.

 

[s&w3913]

I take all my home defense advice from cowboy Mark Ragsdale.

Ex-Shrewsbury officer wins $1.2 million jury award after he was shot by homeowner Mark Ragsdale

A jury has ruled in favor of a former Shrewsbury police officer who sued after he was shot responding to a burglar alarm by a homeowner who thought he was an intruder.

www.masslive.com

 

[paul73]

It makes infinite sense to let the police deal with issues that don't put me in immediate danger.

of course it does.
in 10 years time police will send you a report of how they did the best they could to find your property, but, alas. it was all futile.

 

[meh]

Nothing to do with him sending rounds into his house from the outside of it though? I can’t tell from the video it the police were justified of not, but I can tell from the video that this dude was outside the house, swinging his gun around like a Chippendale at a bachelorette party. And sending rounds. That tends to escalate things. Still could be unjustified. But damn, if you’re gonna do anything with a rifle and cops on the way, don’t do this.

I lived in Texas for a lot of years. I think it was illegal to discharge a firearm inside of city limits everywhere I ever lived there. Obviously, that's not an issue if you need to use a firearm for defense of self, others, or property (Texas), but who was this guy talking to and what was he shooting at? Now that doesn't let the cops off the hook, because if he were actually in a shootout with a bad guy, you'd kind of hope the philosophy of the police wasn't just to kill everybody shooting and sort it out later. I say you'd hope that, but it might actually be a fair representation of the truth, which is why how you respond to the arrival of the cops is pretty damned important to your survival.

 

[weekendracer]

There is a very simple ROE change to prevent all of this.

Police do not get to fire until fired upon.

You're cute.

I'm not saying cops should just blast away, but JFC, you win the internet today.

 

[dezignguy]

 

[rogersmithiii]

of course it does.
in 10 years time police will send you a report of how they did the best they could to find your property, but, alas. it was all futile.

The cost of replacing the property is peanuts compared to the cost of shooting someone. And it’s not just monetary cost. It’s the probable loss of job, the health of the shooter and family from stress, the loss of friends, and the loss of potential as your life is turned upside down.

 

[rogersmithiii]

I take all my home defense advice from cowboy Mark Ragsdale.

Ex-Shrewsbury officer wins $1.2 million jury award after he was shot by homeowner Mark Ragsdale

A jury has ruled in favor of a former Shrewsbury police officer who sued after he was shot responding to a burglar alarm by a homeowner who thought he was an intruder.

www.masslive.com

The Telegram link off the MassLive story is kaput sky. Why was Ragsdale negligent?