Oakland Police shoot, kill mentally ill Black man wielding ax

Oakland police shot and killed a mentally ill man when he charged at them with an ax after they shot him with stun guns and a bean-bag round, authorities said Friday. Booker Carloss II, 50, who was a paralegal student, was shot shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday in the basement of his home at 2830 Magnolia St. in West Oakland. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Carloss' brothers said they had called police to remove him from the home because he was acting erratically and wielding an ax. He did not react when Sgt. Kevin Johnson and Sgt. Fred Mestas fired their Tasers, nor after Officer Jacob Floyd fired a bean-bag round, police said. Police said Mestas, a 27-year veteran, and Floyd, on the force for two years, had no choice but to fire their weapons when Carloss charged toward Mestas with a 3-foot-long ax. On Friday, Carloss' brothers, Jerome, 48, and Glenn, 46, decried what they called a needless use of deadly force, and said they believed the officers fired their guns within 10 to 15 seconds of entering the basement. They showed a reporter the small room, part of which was matted with blood. "They came in like gangbusters," Glenn Carloss said. "We just feel that they had an opportunity to resolve this without having to go into a kill mode." Jerome Carloss, who declined to discuss his brother's mental health, said the police "went down and strictly murdered this man." [more]

Comments

[scott]

Isn't is amazing how the family members accuse the police officers for their actions? The officers use of taser weapons and bean bag weapons are "less than lethal" weapons. Those weapons are NOT weapons that are guaranteed to stop assualts, halt aggressive behavior, or prevent serious injury or death. Many departments require "deadly force cover" of the officer utilizing the "less than lethal" weapons. These policies are in effect to ensure the officers are not seriously injured or killed. The "less than lethal" weapons are an option to hopefully help to resolve the situation without someone being killed. However, these weapons are not always effective, as in this case. The officers then had no other recourse, but to defend themselves. The family members are quick to criticize the officers for handling this deadly encounter. If the situation could have been peacefully resolved, why didn't the family members do it themselves? Why did they feel the need to call the police. It is unfortunate the person was killed. But contrary to websites like this, I do not know of a single police officer who has ever put on the badge in hopes of being involved in a shooting. As a police officer, and one who has been involved in a deadly shooting [in which my partner was shot], I know this - I would give anything for that not to have occurred. My shooting occurred in 1994 and there has not been a single day since that I have not thought about what had happened. I've said the "suspect's" name every single day since then. I've prayed for his small child who has since had to grow up without a father. I've prayed for his parents, who can no longer hold their son. As tragic as these events are, often times there is no to chance or opportunity to avoid a deadly outcome. Don't be so quick to judge the police as a whole when police officers, who are in defense of their own lives, are forced to kill a person, ANY person. Granted, there are a few bad apples in the police profession, just like any other profession (including your profeesion). However, the majority of officers are color blind, and would risk their own lives to protect and save the lives of any person, regardless of their color; which is exactly what these officers did - they responded to the call for help and prevented this person from injuring or killing someone. Lastly, would this story ever be considered if the person who police were forced to shoot were white? What if the officers were black? As a police officer, trust me, we need your support, AND your help, especially when we are there to help you! GOD BLESS - STAY SAFE! SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!

[Cleautus]

What ^ Said

[Marie]

Scott- (and others who share his sentiment)

Mr. carloss was mentally ill. This is another example that illustartes the need for mental health professionals to accompany police on these kinds of calls and mandatory in-service training for police on how to deal with a menatlly ill person.

Your question about what if the officers had been black and the victim white.....interesting. You never hear of black officers shooting white people. It's 99% white officers shooting black males.

[MO]

You never hear it because the white community supports all police and don't take racial sides when it comes to police shootings.