Off-duty Camden officer shoots autistic man, caretaker

[Sagan]

The daily routine of a young autistic man coming home from school with his caretaker went terribly awry Friday afternoon, when he banged on an off-duty police officer's front door rather than his own in Camden.

The Camden officer, believing his house was being broken into, fired through the ajar door and hit both men outside, authorities said.

The autistic man was shot in the arm and was in stable condition, a spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office said, while the caretaker was seriously wounded. Both men were being treated at Cooper University Hospital on Friday evening.

Authorities did not identify any of the men, but a neighbor said the 21-year-old autistic man was Luis Medina, who she said was returning from a school he attends.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/ne...caretaker.html


EDITED: I let my anger get to me.

[Sagan]

Yes another gun thread. But where does it end? where does the violence stop? The 2nd does not permit blasting everyone in sight that you me feel threatened by.

[Tinkerbell]

Rights come with responsibilities, people seem to forget that part of the deal. And apparently this young man was well known in his neighborhood, as was the shooter. It would be nice to have a follow-up on this story to see if charges are levied against the cop. I am all for the right to carry arms but if you can't be responsible there should be consequences. There are laws already in place to deal with these type of situations they just need to be followed. P.S. I don't know what part of Camden this was in but it can be a pretty rough city.

[UltraShy]

P.S. I don't know what part of Camden this was in but it can be a pretty rough city.

I was tending to suspect it was bad neighborhood as there has to be something to explain why a off duty cop would feel so threatened as to fire under such circumstances. Cops know the law and are trained to respond to threats so this case is certainly different from your average shooting. This is also NJ, which I'm pretty sure isn't some "stand-your-ground" state.

There has to be more to this story and I wish we knew all the details. That or we have to believe this cop would fire upon a Girl Scout trying to peddle Thin Mints at his door.

Given the stunning lack of relevant details, I can't make meaningful comments on the story. All I can do is wonder. The lack of detail really bothers me, because as it stands it makes for a nifty gun-bashing tale. And the shooting may still appear unjustified after all the details come out, but at this point I simply don't know.

This is a place for debate, yet it's impossible to debate this in any reasonable manner when there is so much we don't know. About all we can agree upon is you shouldn't shoot those who aren't serious threats.

[Tinkerbell]

^ You're right not being able to have this be a debate, you are left to your own devices to fill in the blanks and people will fill those blanks with whatever agenda suits them. My guess will be that we will never hear of this again, having given us bullets of information with no substance.

[shelbster18]

First of all, if someone's house was being broken into, I don't think they would be knocking on the door. He cray cray.

[Monotony]

"administrative leave " Pfft fire him, he's clearly not competent enough to handle a gun let alone paperwork.

[WintersTale]

This is an example, another example, why lax gun laws are STUPID.

[Ironman]

It must be a bad neighborhood. Something about this doesn't make sense.

[Otherside]

Authorities did not identify any of the men, but a neighbor said the 21-year-old autistic man was Luis Medina, who she said was returning from a school he attends.

What??? How can they not identify him? He lives in the house!!!

And yes, you have a point. When will all this stop?

I was tending to suspect it was bad neighborhood as there has to be something to explain why a off duty cop would feel so threatened as to fire under such circumstances. Cops know the law and are trained to respond to threats so this case is certainly different from your average shooting. This is also NJ, which I'm pretty sure isn't some "stand-your-ground" state.

There has to be more to this story and I wish we knew all the details. That or we have to believe this cop would fire upon a Girl Scout trying to peddle Thin Mints at his door.

Given the stunning lack of relevant details, I can't make meaningful comments on the story. All I can do is wonder. The lack of detail really bothers me, because as it stands it makes for a nifty gun-bashing tale. And the shooting may still appear unjustified after all the details come out, but at this point I simply don't know.

This is a place for debate, yet it's impossible to debate this in any reasonable manner when there is so much we don't know. About all we can agree upon is you shouldn't shoot those who aren't serious threats.

I dunno, maybe the man was also screaming or something whilst banging on the door and the policeman felt threatened. Maybe he was having sort of meltdown that caused him to be screaming and banging on the door. It was a 21 year old man, it wasn't a kid. If he saw the man approaching, maybe he felt threatened when he started banging and screaming on the door.

Just a theory.

[WintersTale]

I don't know. A 21 year old man is sort of a kid...especially when you consider the fact that he was autistic.

I have family members who are severely autistic. Many of them act like children, and can't relate to adults and typical adult behavior.

[Tinkerbell]

@Otherside & WintersTale - you both are correct - until you know that this person has autism, he could very well appear to be a man, yes a man's body with the mind and interaction abilities of a child. And the police officer would have to know who it was at the door, the article does say that he shot through a partially opened door. If the pounding opened the door, who knows what he was thinking. Like UltraShy stated there just aren't enough facts to really know, everything is just speculation.

[kc1895]

The cop will most likely not face any charges or disciplinary action. They are always held above the law when these things happen. On the other hand, if it were a citizen shooting blindly at the door, they would most likely face second degree murder charges or voluntary manslaughter. There is no equity in criminal justice.

[WintersTale]

Yeah, the sheer fact he is a cop is probably going to prevent justice from happening. Sad.