No Emergency. No Hostage: 30 White Cops Respond to Domestic Call w/ Tank & Snipers. Murder Black Man Holding His Son. From [HERE] and [MORE] The Pierce County Metro SWAT sniper who shot and killed Leonard Thomas said the 6-foot-8 man grabbed his 4-year-old son in a stranglehold and was heading back into a house filled with smoke and a police assault team when he fired his rifle.

Sgt. Brian Markert said there was “nothing protective about the way he (Thomas) grabbed his son,” and fearing the child was in imminent danger, decided to shoot Thomas from 90 feet away with a .308-caliber precision rifle.

The 30-year-old father — who was unarmed bled to death as officers punched him and pulled the boy from his arms as the child called for his “daddy,” according to testimony in a civil-rights and wrongful death civil trial in U.S. District Court.

The case is actually two lawsuits being tried together, one filed by Thomas’ parents and surviving son and the other by his estate. The lawsuits allege a militarized response to a misdemeanor domestic-violence dispute, miscommunication and questionable tactics resulted in Thomas being killed for trying to protect his child.

Closing arguments are scheduled for Monday.

The defense rested its case after two days of testimony and scathing cross-examination of Markert, much of it focusing on a 15-page statement — drafted with the help of his attorney — that he provided to investigators 11 days after the May 23, 2013, shooting.

In it, Markert said he believed he was justified in shooting when Thomas grabbed the boy by the neck with both arms and jerked him off the ground. Thomas’ action, he said, constituted felony assault, and he fired to protect the child.

The sergeant acknowledged, however, that Thomas reached for the boy only after the incident commander, Lakewood Chief Mike Zaro, ordered a surprise assault on the rear of the home, where a team of SWAT operators blew down a back door with explosives, shot and killed the family dog, and swarmed into the house.

The assault was ordered after Thomas agreed to let the child go, according to testimony.

An amateur video [below] of portions of the assault, shot by a neighbor, contains sounds of the explosion, the crack of the sniper’s rifle and the gunshots that killed the dog. Fred and Annalesa Thomas, Leonard Thomas’ parents, have been in court every day. She moaned and wept in her husband’s arms as the video was played Thursday.