Officer involved shooting in St. Pete

St. Petersburg, Florida - St. Petersburg Police are looking in to the events that caused one of their own to shoot and kill 17-year-old Javon Dawson.

[Vicious in Valrico]

I wonder if he was shooting AT sombody, or if he was shooting it up in the air.....and did he even hear the officer? Important questions....

[Holly]

Well, you do know if you shoot up in the air the bullet has to land????? Why does a 17 year old have a gun at a party?????

[Kathleen in Zephyrhills]

that is what happens when you shoot a gun in public ... the police eventually show up ...
what difference does it make whether he was shooting the gun at someone or in the air ... what goes up must come back down ... it is the law of gravity ... odds are someone is going to get hurt when you fire a weapon ... luckily the only party injured was the teen that was firing the gun and not innocent bystanders ... when will people learn

[The Dragon]

And another one gone and another one gone another one bites the dust...

[allan the bassmaster]

ohh here we go another race issue! it dont matter if your white, hispanic, blue, yellow when an officer tells you to put the gun down you have to put it down or else they think your threating their safety and the other peoples safety around them! i wish al sharpton and jesse jackson would just go ahead and die, they makes situations worse because they bring other issues in it that werent even involved!

[LAV]

Vicious in Valrico wrote:

I wonder if he was shooting AT sombody, or if he was shooting it up in the air.....and did he even hear the officer? Important questions....

You should be locked up for thinking that would make a difference... EDIOT with a gun!! Shoot him! We all know Florida is the only third world country in America but that dont give you the right to run around shooting guns up in the air.

[allan the bassmaster]

stpetegirl727 wrote:

Yea, shoot him so he dies, dont shoot him to disarm him. "One less black man on the streets" "bullet magnets" huh? Ya did it once again SPPD!! Anothe BLACK mom losses her son due to ya'll killing him. Is that what ya learn at the academy?? Shoot to kill... Your right behind those cops in NY... RELOAD!!

how would you shoot to disarm him! they dont have sniper rifles they have either 40's or a 45 and if you have ever shot one which im sure you havent (i own one) its not easy almost close to impossible to shoot and hit the gun out of his or hit his arm! the officer did the best thing he could do and what he was suppose to do! mayb the retard who got shot should listen when told to drop the gun!

[Joyce]

I have friends that are white, black and mexican. I guess I'm fortunate to have HARD WORKING, HONEST, CARING people in my life. Too bad there is so much stupid trash in the world. If I were the police man I would have done the same thing. I mean if you have a LAW INFORCEMENT person pointing a gun at you it would be an INTELLIGENT THING TO DO WHAT HE ASKS!!!!!!!!!!

[Buck]

Shoot to kill is the only way.Why take a chance with an armed man shooting you if he is only wounded.I don't care what color.

[Chaz]

Good Job St.Pete Police Officer!
Another low-life off the streets.
This St.Pete PO probably saved lives for the future.
The 17 year old had no business having the gun in his hands in the 1st place, let alone shooting it in the air. Which is probably a BS story, he was most likely shooting it at someone and was just missing his target.
I'm sure glad thw SPP officer didn't miss his!

[Intelligent Design]

Taking out the trash?

[Intelligent Design]

Vicious in Valrico wrote:

I wonder if he was shooting AT sombody, or if he was shooting it up in the air.....and did he even hear the officer? Important questions....

An imbecile firing a gun in public is not a time to cut any slack. Why would you ask something like this? You must have some issues with authority.

[Vicious in Valrico]

I do have issues with Authority; specifically authority that is applied in a scorched earth manner.

YES, it's dangerous to fire a weapon into the air. The odds however of the bullet striking an individual are LESS than being struck by a vehicle. And they don't pull you out of the car and cap your ass for speeding, do they? It is INCREDIBLY unlikely that a falling bullet will have enough force at around 150' per second to kill, IF it happened to hit you on the head at all. Consider how small the bullet is, and how much space there is in the City.

As far as shoot to disarm, I can nail your knee from 50' away 3 of 5 shots; that does NOT make it safe though. The cops need to consider the IMMEDIATE threat to civilians before killing someone. If he was shooting into the air he presents a POSSIBLE threat. If he heard the officer, and ignored him, then he was dealt with appropriatly.

WHAT IF the cop missed and killed an innocent bystander? WHAT IF that bystander was your daughter? Or your Mother?

The bottom line is weapons should NOT be fired without GREAT NEED to take somebody's life. Those of you who think otherwise are on the short end of the Evolutionary stick.

[allan the bassmaster]

Vicious in Valrico wrote:

I do have issues with Authority; specifically authority that is applied in a scorched earth manner.
YES, it's dangerous to fire a weapon into the air. The odds however of the bullet striking an individual are LESS than being struck by a vehicle. And they don't pull you out of the car and cap your ass for speeding, do they? It is INCREDIBLY unlikely that a falling bullet will have enough force at around 150' per second to kill, IF it happened to hit you on the head at all. Consider how small the bullet is, and how much space there is in the City.
As far as shoot to disarm, I can nail your knee from 50' away 3 of 5 shots; that does NOT make it safe though. The cops need to consider the IMMEDIATE threat to civilians before killing someone. If he was shooting into the air he presents a POSSIBLE threat. If he heard the officer, and ignored him, then he was dealt with appropriatly.
WHAT IF the cop missed and killed an innocent bystander? WHAT IF that bystander was your daughter? Or your Mother?
The bottom line is weapons should NOT be fired without GREAT NEED to take somebody's life. Those of you who think otherwise are on the short end of the Evolutionary stick.

sir mayb you can shoot that good mut not to many people are that good! especially with a pistol that they dont prcatice with all the time! and believe me my father is a deputy im goin to a small criminal justice school and if a criminal REFUSES ( which means he heard the cop say to put the weapon down, and prolly because of his freinds wanted to be stupid and resist) the cop looked at it as threatning his safety and all bystanders safety and took the best course of action he knew and was taught!

[1noteasilyfooled]

Vicious in Valrico wrote:

I do have issues with Authority; specifically authority that is applied in a scorched earth manner.
YES, it's dangerous to fire a weapon into the air. The odds however of the bullet striking an individual are LESS than being struck by a vehicle. And they don't pull you out of the car and cap your ass for speeding, do they? It is INCREDIBLY unlikely that a falling bullet will have enough force at around 150' per second to kill, IF it happened to hit you on the head at all. Consider how small the bullet is, and how much space there is in the City.
As far as shoot to disarm, I can nail your knee from 50' away 3 of 5 shots; that does NOT make it safe though. The cops need to consider the IMMEDIATE threat to civilians before killing someone. If he was shooting into the air he presents a POSSIBLE threat. If he heard the officer, and ignored him, then he was dealt with appropriatly.
WHAT IF the cop missed and killed an innocent bystander? WHAT IF that bystander was your daughter? Or your Mother?
The bottom line is weapons should NOT be fired without GREAT NEED to take somebody's life. Those of you who think otherwise are on the short end of the Evolutionary stick.

I like the 'scorched earth' tactics.. you have a gun on the street.. you get shot.. no questions.. even NRA members know that you don't carry a gun around on the street to 'parties'..

[stpetereppin]

FIRST OF ALL IT DOES MATTER WHAT COLOR U ARE CAUSE IF HE WAS WHITE HE WOULD HAVE BEEN SHOOT IN THE LEG OR THE ARM JUST TO GET THE GUN OUT OF HIS HAND..... THEN ALL U PREACH TO YOUNG BLACK PEOPLE IS THAT THE POLICE ARE UR FRINED SHIT THAT IS IF THEIR NOT OUT TO KILL U.... OK YEA HE WAS WRONG FOR HAVIN A GUN BUT WHAT GIVES U THE RIGHT TO TAKE HIS LIFE.... NOW ANOTHER BLACK WOMAN HAS TO LIVE WITH THE FACT THAT HER SON IS GONE FOREVER DUE TO THE HANDS OF A ST. PETERSBURG POLICE OFFICER.... N DUE TIME EVERYONE WHO HAS KILLED OR ATTEMPTED TO KILL WILL BE TAKIN CARE OF.... TO ALL YOUNG BLACK GUYS N GIRLS OUT THERE KEEP UR HEAD N BE SAFE..... CONTINUE TO PRAY N LEAVE IT N GODS HANDS CAUSE HE WILL DEAL WITH THAT OFFICER N THOSE OFFICERS N NYC....
R.I.P. TO ALL YOUNG BLACK MEN WHO HAVE LOST THEIR LIFE TO AN OFFICER.........

[Disgusted]

What about all of the people that have lost their lives to the Black men and White men with guns,selling drugs,masheti's,Carjackers.If you play with a weapon you better be ready to suffer the consequences.It's always the cops fault. Thats pure B.S.

[Darwin]

We should question the mind set of people who think it is okay to be firing a gun in a crowd, if it is being shot into the air. Maybe a permissive attitude toward guns is a big part of the problem. Why should a gun be part of a graduation celebration?

[allan the bassmaster]

stpetereppin wrote:

FIRST OF ALL IT DOES MATTER WHAT COLOR U ARE CAUSE IF HE WAS WHITE HE WOULD HAVE BEEN SHOOT IN THE LEG OR THE ARM JUST TO GET THE GUN OUT OF HIS HAND..... THEN ALL U PREACH TO YOUNG BLACK PEOPLE IS THAT THE POLICE ARE UR FRINED SHIT THAT IS IF THEIR NOT OUT TO KILL U.... OK YEA HE WAS WRONG FOR HAVIN A GUN BUT WHAT GIVES U THE RIGHT TO TAKE HIS LIFE.... NOW ANOTHER BLACK WOMAN HAS TO LIVE WITH THE FACT THAT HER SON IS GONE FOREVER DUE TO THE HANDS OF A ST. PETERSBURG POLICE OFFICER.... N DUE TIME EVERYONE WHO HAS KILLED OR ATTEMPTED TO KILL WILL BE TAKIN CARE OF.... TO ALL YOUNG BLACK GUYS N GIRLS OUT THERE KEEP UR HEAD N BE SAFE..... CONTINUE TO PRAY N LEAVE IT N GODS HANDS CAUSE HE WILL DEAL WITH THAT OFFICER N THOSE OFFICERS N NYC....
R.I.P. TO ALL YOUNG BLACK MEN WHO HAVE LOST THEIR LIFE TO AN OFFICER.........

jus because you shoot someone in the arm or leg does not mean they will be disarmed! there still very capapable of shotting that gun and killing somone! you guys just dont understand police work! its more complicated then what you think!

[Janet]

Here we go again, he's a good boy,,,,never mind that he has a gun and is firing it, we will end up naming another park after a punk with a gun.