I have my own thoughts on it, but they're just opinions never tested nor even studied as thoroughly as they should be I realize. Not comfortable or confident sharing mine and someone taking it as potentially bad advice
I'd absolutely love to hear from one of our Sherbro LEOs on this matter. Can't think of any of the usernames to tag at the moment though
Since we don’t know the exact situation, what information the cops knew at the time, etc: judgment at this point would be the definition of Monday morning quarterbacking.
Generally speaking, as an officer, you want to give the guy commands to put the gun down before just shooting him.
But it’s not always that simple. For example, if you stepped over dead and bleeding bodies during the parkland shooting, and then you saw someone pointing a gun at a student, would you give him a chance to surrender or just shoot him in the back before he’s able to kill the student?
It’s sort of a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation.
I don’t have extensive training on active shooters, but I’ve done a few training scenarios, and yea, I shot everyone with a gun (one of which was role playing an off duty cop), which you learn to do after getting shot yourself a few times.
From what I’ve been told by firearms instructors is that studies have been conducted that show that in active shooter scenarios, most officers shoot when they see a gun, even if that person is also holding up a badge. The best thing to do is not let the officer see the gun until he knows you’re friendly. Even just hiding it behind your leg/back helps.