Friends: Death was a `terrible accident'

Friends of a Torrance man shot to death in a confrontation with officers expressed shock Monday, saying he respected police and was not the type who would point a gun at them.

[calguy]

Here it comes! Why didn't the cops wait longer? He was a good guy! He would never try to harm a cop! He drank heavily, but just to have a good time, not hurt anyone! Tell that to all the DEAD cops that did wait too long, or didn't think someone would shoot them. And if I live in that apartment building, I should expect my neighbor to point a gun at me when I come home late at night because he is drunk and thinks I might be a prowler.
Please, get real.

[Justice]

Right on the head calguy. You point a gun at a Police Officer you should get shot. No questions asked. Quit making excuses. If you're man enough to drink you should be responsible for your actions. If not, don't drink. Good job TPD.

[Mr P]

Come out with a gun weather or not it's the police your going to get shot. Smart move buddy! Not sure how much of a good guy this guy was but he sure wasnt smart.

[Thinkaboutit]

I don't understand why so many are quick to blame the officers. Granted, to his friends, this man may not seem the type to point a gun at cops, but intent can only go so far in this sitation. Officers have only a split second to make a life or death decision. The officer does not know if the gun is loaded or not.(S)He cannot wait to find out! Common sense dictates that you do not point a gun at a cop. For the cop, it's a choice between coming home to their loved ones at the end of the day or lying dead on the pavement because they hesitated. Yes, this incident is tragic, but the officer did what he was trained to do & no fault or blame should be placed on him.

[Vixen]

If I lived at that apartment building I would expect my neighbor to respect all the other tenants peace and quiet and not blast country music in 1:00am. I back the police on this one.

[Mary]

tpd did it again ...what ever happen to stand offs tpd never has stand offs because they are afraid other departments might see how they handle things i remember when they shot Chis Chappel 11 times 911 was called and 21 mins later he was dead all he had was a stick in his hand NO GUN he was only 23yrs an autopty showed no signs of drugs ..even a nieghbor called 911 for help early in the morning 10 hrs before he was shot but no one reponed to the call torrance police are like nazi cops they are the only one with rights

[Mary]

remember the call was only loud music

[Roger]

Call them what you want. The people of Torrance support their PD. Any police officer would have done the same thing if a gun was pointed at them. Slowly but surely the white trash is getting cleaned up.

Mary wrote:

tpd did it again ...what ever happen to stand offs tpd never has stand offs because they are afraid other departments might see how they handle things i remember when they shot Chis Chappel 11 times 911 was called and 21 mins later he was dead all he had was a stick in his hand NO GUN he was only 23yrs an autopty showed no signs of drugs ..even a nieghbor called 911 for help early in the morning 10 hrs before he was shot but no one reponed to the call torrance police are like nazi cops they are the only one with rights

[Civic Minded]

Here come all the armchair quarterbacks declaring that the police overreacted. I want them all to put on a uniform and see what they would have done in the same situation. A police officer knows only what is happening at that moment and can not be expected to balance that with unknown facts about a person's personality. And what about the loaded SKS in his apartment? His friends obviously didn't know him as well as they think.

[A-Man]

Mary wrote:

remember the call was only loud music

And your point is? Mary, make sure you never call the police because if there is a bad person somewhere near-by and they confront the police my money is on the police. So to make sure you never jeopardize the safety of a law breaker by calling the police.

[Bill]

I know the people that called in the loud music complaint. Here is the sequence of events (sans Dailybreeze):

1) Guy gets home from work at close to 1am, hears loud music from neighbor
2) Goes over and asks him to turn it down so his wife and baby could sleep.
3) Neighbor turns it up instead
4) Guy calls cops
5) cops show up and neighbor turns down music
6) Cops leave, nieghbor goes to guys house and complains about cops getting called
7) Neighbor goes back to apartment and music turns music up again
8) Guy sees neighbor poking around his house in bushes
9) Guy calls cops again
10) Neighbor answers door with gun
11) Neighbor ends up dead

This is what happened. Whether the neighbor was drunk or suicidal, who knows. He was not an innocent. He made this happen. Thank goodness the cops did what they did, otherwise he may have shot an innocent person. Draw your own conclusions.

[TPD]

Torrance pd policy shoot first ask questions later

[seriously]

If you live in Torrance, MOVE if you don't like how the police handle incidents. If you don't live here, then be quiet!

Mary wrote:

tpd did it again ...what ever happen to stand offs tpd never has stand offs because they are afraid other departments might see how they handle things i remember when they shot Chis Chappel 11 times 911 was called and 21 mins later he was dead all he had was a stick in his hand NO GUN he was only 23yrs an autopty showed no signs of drugs ..even a nieghbor called 911 for help early in the morning 10 hrs before he was shot but no one reponed to the call torrance police are like nazi cops they are the only one with rights

[joe momma]

....as things go the deceased had to know what would happen if he pointed a gun (or similar device) at a police officer.......it is easy to understand how a friend or relative of the deceased would not want to accept this and push the blame on the police....wake up...if you act stupid in this world-bad things could come you way..so try being nice and keep your bad attitude in a place where it does not cause unneeded discontent...

[seriously]

and what does the initial call being loud music have anything to do with the incident. All types of calls can turn bad in a matter of seconds. Officers need to use precautions on each call they handle, regardless of the type. This man walked out of his apartment "for only playing loud music" with a GUN IN HIS HAND. Quit judging how the police handled the call and see it for what it is: he was armed with a gun! Sad, maybe, but he made a choice to arm himself. If you think police officers like shooting people, think again. Thank goodness the officers went home safe that night. Perhaps more people will think twice before confronting police officers with a gun in their hand.

Mary wrote:

remember the call was only loud music

[LOL]

Roger wrote:

Slowly but surely the white trash is getting cleaned up.<quoted text>

Well Torrance has a lot of wt so at the rate the TPD is shooting its residents, the city will be a ghost town pretty soon.

[hmm]

Bill wrote:

10) Neighbor answers door with gun
11) Neighbor ends up dead

so is the TPD lying when they said they shot him on the stairs? from what the article says, i'm under the impression the dead guy was in an elevated position and threatened the cops as they were coming up the stairs?

if the TPD report is right, and he really was looking for a prowler like his friend said, the guy should have just waited by the door to make sure AND to give himself a better position.

if he answered the door w a gun like the guy above said, then it had to happen

[2008TeaParty]

Quite a few officer involved shootings in Torrance lately. That mentaly ill boy a few weeks ago REALLY bothers me.

[Cam]

With Rick now having better health, new prospects, and a positive outlook on life, its very sad that it was cut short by a bad decision...

[Mar5195]

One could speculate that he thought his neighbor was coming up the stairs and therefore brandished the gun.

If the police didn't shoot him first, we'd all be writing our sympathies to some cops family.

Instead we write them about someone who wasn't a very good gun owner. I'm sorry he had to die but his actions are what caused this.