this story is all to real for me. I was suicidal and had an 8 hour standoff with the police. I agree, that aiming guns at someone does not help their mental status BUT the police do have to protect themselves. However, they knew the situation and were informed by my family and others that I was only a threat to myself, that I was an upstanding citizen with no prior record, owned my own home, had a professional job etc... however after about 8 hours they shot tear gas into my home and before I could even get out, SHOT ME while I was UNARMED through my bedroom window. If that makes sense to anyone, please let me know. They were aiming to kill, however I'm glad he missed. I am now grateful for my life. They were dispatched to HELP me but ended up shooting me unnecessarily. The problem then lies with them trying to cover their "butts" so... they trumped up a bunch of felony charges on me and twisted the truth ALOT to the media to make them look justified in their actions. Instead of getting proper help and getting my life back together, I was thrown in jail for a LONG time... for a mental illness... for a suicide attempt. and NOW I am a felon for the rest of my life... It's going to haunt me forever in every aspect of my life.... jobs, schools, etc. I am now back in college finishing my undergrad. I was a senior at my last school but since it was a private school, they wouldn't take me back. I then had to transfer to a state school which set me back many years... however, I am an upstanding citizen now and I was before this incident. I am involved on campus and get straight As... HOWEVER I had to go through 2 years of unnecessary hell because of the felony charges when I should have just gotten A LOT of help (inpatient/outpatient) etc. Instead I became MORE depress in jail and the thought of 45 years in prison hanging over my head. It was all completely unnecessary. The legal system and law enforcement system is messed up. In my mind, what they should have done, what would have been far more beneficial for me and for SOCIETY would have been this. #1 Mandatory inpatient hospital stay for min 6 months until I was stable, then 6 more months of supervised outpatient... then IF I DIDN"T comply with that, THEN I would be charged!! Trust me, it would have ruined my life FAR less and I would be a more productive member of society if that would have been the case. But NO our legal system is solely punitive... but PUNISHMENT is not always the answer! as any parent would know... right? OK I'm done with my rant. Thank God I'm alive. Thank God this guy is too!

freeradical: Although police and military snipers have the equipment, training and ability to possibly hit a weapon in the hand of a stationary target, shooting to disarm is primarily a product of Hollywood. Do you honestly think it practical for the average police officer to try to "disarm" a person with an aimed shot. If I am aiming "center mass" (around the sternum) and I miss my point of aim by 2-3 inches I am still going to hurt the person. If I am aiming for the moving, flailing weapon in the hand of a person who is also possibly moving or running at me what are the odds I will actually hit my intended target? If I miss my disarming shot I have two problems: 1. I still have the person to deal with and, 2. where did the bullet end up?

On one hand- if you can use deadly force, you ought to be a good enough shot to disarm someone, not kill them. On the other hand, if someone has the gall to point a gun at someone else, especially if the other person is holding a gun, that's pretty much fair game for a lethal shot. But I have known some people that are just in dark times, and are not in their right mind. Not everyone that's crazy started or stays that way, ya know?

If you read both articles the addresses of the incidents are different. So this isn't what resulted in Craig's soft lockdown.

Where is the pics?

I had a child tell me there was a guy with a gun trying to kill someone!? The children did not need to be scared for no reason! A man trying to kill himself is NOT a reason for a lockdown!

Heaven forbid a real, grown up adult, or even a child sees a police officer with his gun drawn. That would just be crazy. Protect their eyes!!!! That would be so much worse than to see someone get their head blown off on TV. I'm just saying...Don't falsify reality for yourself or your kids, see the world!
=)

Janesville PD: Congrats, you surrounded a suicidal person until they gave up and came outside. Probably just wanted attention and help. It's not like this was a big high stress hostage situation. It was one person who needed help. Good job, but lets not over-do it here,people.

Spark-Im with you but "Deadly force may be used as a last resort in the defense of oneself" please take out last resort. If a guy points a gun at you deadly force is NOT your last resort....its the first and only.

justme46: The incident this afternoon was NOT the same incident that this article was written about. The article's incident happened around 8:30 this morning and it was in the 1200 block of Badger Street. The incident this afternoon was regarding the same topic (potentially suicidal person) but was located on S. Randall, according to another Gazette blog.

miltonalum -
This section is intended to allow the officer to have the firearm ready in circumstances such as confronting a suspect whom there is reasonable grounds to believe may be armed, or any other situation which may cause the officer to have reasonable fear for his/her life.
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Deadly force may be used as a last resort in the defense of oneself, when there is reasonable cause to believe that the officer is in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm.
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Ok, so after they tell the person to stop from trying to stab them, then they would shoot them? Maybe possibly a taser would be used, but doubtful if it was a matter of life or death.

They wouldnt shoot him for coming up to them with a knife.....

By the way, if he did walk up to the police with a knife, he would be dropped in his tracks. Hence why they carry guns. To protect themselves. A knife is a deadly weapon.

That's just Janesville? That is proper procedure anywhere. If he had a knife, he could have stabbed someone that could have possibly been in the house. We don't know the situation and neither do the police prior to arriving.
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What is with you people when it comes to this stuff? If you were put in this situation and felt harmed, you'd all be on here crying they didn't do enough. Cracks me up.

Yep, same incident. I don't understand what a "soft" lockdown is. When I worked at Edison and Parker, there was one type of lockdown and it was taken very seriously. How can they label "lockdowns"? To me, when you are in a lockdown situation, one threat is just as bad as another threat. As for the guns and the suicidal guy, that was a little overboard, but thats Janesville. And if he only had a knife, what's he going to do...walk up to a cop and stab them? I guess they did what they thought was right and it also gave us something to blog about.

craig had a soft lockdown cause of a suicidal guy. is it this guy? Seems far away from craig.

How selfish and pathetic.

Napalm - The jets were probably for the President arriving in Madison. They were all over the place.

cpaese - The officers first concern is everyone around them including themselves. Once they are setup, they can then handle the suicidal person. We don't know the situation. That person could have been armed. They could be threatening someone else. It's better to be overly prepared than under prepared. If someone is suicidal and drawing all that attention to themselves, it's uncertain what they are really capable of. And yes, suicide by cop happens all the time. I trust law enforcement and their training over anyone else.

Busy 1st shift today! Craig High School just got off of a lockdown. Bunch of cops stopped some unruly person near the high school. Don't know more than that.

With someone who is suicidal, you just do not know what's going through his or her mind. You have to be prepared, because that kind of person is in the mindset that he or she has nothing left to lose. Those are the most dangerous types of people in this world. It's probably just SOP to point guns at said person, for use in a last resort...

I was wondernig what the fighter jets that flew over earlier were for.

cpaese-Sometimes suicidal people arm themselves with weapons to make police shoot them. In about half of those cases the person actually shoots the gun. I do not blame the police for being prepared, just because they have guns at the ready does not mean they will use them.

It's unfortunate that they thought they needed the guns, but sometimes those who wish to leave this life, wish not to go alone. The officers' first concern needs to be the safety of others, then they need to deal with the suicidal person, if they can.

I appreciate JPD's response to this situation, however, I do not understand officers having guns pointed at an individual during a suicidal standoff. I understand the public safety issue, but if someone is suicidal; is pointing a gun at them going to make them change their mind?

doglover,
I put my faith in the JPD that they made the right decision. None of us can imagine being in their shoes without actually being in their shoes. Situations like that sometimes require immediate action, even when it's not pretty. It can be a little scary to see those guns, but it should be re-assuring to know that they are only out for our own safety, and certainly are not pointed at law abiding citizens.

Way to go Janesville PD!!

Yeh, they may have closed some streets around 8:45 but they had guns drawn before 8:30. I turned from Milton. Ave. onto Mt. Zion a little before 8:30 and I saw 2 officers with long barrel guns out and 1 with a hand gun, one gun with a pretty big scope on it. That officer was standing behind on unmarked squad right on Mt. Zion as we all passed. You think they might have called for backup and streets to be closed sooner than that. I do support our police force, but that was a little scary to be driving right past all of that.

I am glad that the man is safe and that nobody got hurt. I'm really glad my kids were already dropped off and not with me at the time.

Scary

THANK GOD noone was hurt...good job to all who were involved