Police Sniper Shoots Suicidal Boy Instead of Saving Him

Amaury · Nov 3, 2012

Source: RT

Published: 11/2/2012

Given the circumstances, I feel as if the law did the right thing, and I feel that a lawsuit is overdoing it. However, the family still has my condolences.

Thoughts? Discuss.

RT said:

The parents of a suicidal 16-year-old boy who was shot to death by a SWAT team sniper in suburban Atlanta have spoken out for the first time against the unjustified actions of the police.

Andrew Messina had threatened to kill himself after getting a bad grade in school last May. He took his father’s .357 Magnum, took swigs of alcohol from a bottle of Martini, and phoned his father to relay his suicidal thoughts – all while recording himself with a video camera.

“I do know personally I really don’t want to live,” Andrew told his father on the phone. “So you should just let this happen if you really love me.”

While he was on the phone, Lisa Messina, the boy’s mother, called the police and told the 911 operator that they should send “just one” police car to make sure her son wouldn’t panic.

“It just happened so fast, and then he went upstairs,” Lisa Messina told CBS Atlanta. “He had a gun in his hand, and he had bullets in the other hand.”

But instead of sending a police officer, the SWAT team showed up at the suburban Atlanta home, together with an armored tank and a sniper. Law enforcement officers cut off the telephone lines and put negotiators on the line to talk to the distraught teen while the house was surrounded.

On the line with negotiators, the boy angrily demanded to continue speaking with his father. Shortly thereafter, a sniper set up across the street, about 65 yards from the boy, who was on the phone near the glass door to the house.

“A minute later we heard this horrendous cannon shot and he was dead,” said Nick Messina, the boy’s father.

The Cherokee County Sheriff’s office said the shooting came in response to Andrew breaking a pane of a glass door with his gun and refusing to put it down, thereby putting the officers around the house at risk. But the family claims Andrew never pointed the gun at an officer and was therefore killed without a valid reason.

“They brought an army to take out a 16-year-old-boy. To kill a 16-year-old boy,” said Nick in the interview.

“We thought that they would (be) experts in being able to diffuse the situation. And that was not what happened. Instead of the fire being put out, they brought gasoline,” he added.

The family’s attorney, Chuck Pekor, believes that even the glass door was not broken by the teen’s gun, thereby giving the sniper no reason to shoot.

“Not a single officer out there, not a one, ever saw a gun come through the hole where the break was,” he said.

Additionally, the lawyer believes the positioning of his gunshot wounds proves that Andrew was not a threat. Since the bullet entered the right side of his body, it means he must have been facing the opposite direction of the police team when he was shot, thereby not being a threat.

CBS Atlanta attempted to interview the sniper and the commander of the scene, but the sheriff’s office refused, telling reporters that “the case is closed.”

The Messina family is currently working on a lawsuit against the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.
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Railos · Nov 4, 2012

What?!? Why bring in that much force for a single person who intends to kill himself and not inflict harm upon others? Why kill him in the end? Why is the boy committing suicide over a bad grade? This is just wrong in almost every aspect.

Chevalier · Nov 4, 2012

You have to wonder what happened there, SWAT is supposed to be trained on how to deal with situations
Iike these. Moreover, I feel there's something I'm missing because a sniper is supposed to be able to see things with a scope? If so, how could they feel so inclined to pull the trigger in a manner that kills--if the intention is to save?

That does not sound right. The family deserves some form of compensation out of all this because the system failed them and now they've lost a son. Moreso if what they're saying about the boy not actually doing what they said he did is true.

Near-to-Tears · Nov 5, 2012

That is one of the biggest over-reactions I have ever heard of from the police. Why does an upset, drunken teenage boy with a handgun warrant a small army of SWAT personnel? Surely one appropriately trained officer is enough to handle the situation?

They certainly deserve compensation of some sort, although I expect that will never make them feel any better for having lost their son over something as small as a poor grade. Although I imagine there must be some sort of underlying issue that wasn't mentioned, because I cannot imagine anyone seriously wanting to die over flunking a subject as that can be so easily rectified.

jafar · Nov 5, 2012

Amaury said: ↑

the circumstances, I feel as if the law did the right thing, and I feel that a lawsuit is overdoing it. However, the family still has my condolences.
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Why do you think the law did the right thing? The police murdered their son. He was suicidal. He needed help. They brought out a god damned SWAT and had a sniper shoot him. That's far from doing the right thing. They didn't diffuse the situation, instead they reacted to him as if he was a murderer. He was just a kid who needed help. The negotiator did a terrible job by refusing the kid to speak to his father. He NEEDED to talk to his dad. just that could have saved him from hurting himself. Instead, they had a sniper kill him without any grounds for doing so.

A lawsuit is not over doing it. They are suffering so much emotional distress. Money won't bring their son's life back, but at least it's some sort of reprimand for the hurt they are going through.

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