Seattle police fatally shoot armed history buff
SEATTLE — A college student dressed in a vintage German military uniform who was fatally shot by police on New Year's Day was a harmless, eccentric history buff, his family and friends said Friday.
Miles Murphy, a University of Washington senior, was shot several times at his apartment early Thursday after police said he pointed a rifle affixed with a bayonet at officers and refused orders to drop the weapon.
Seattle police had converged on Murphy's apartment after receiving complaints that several men were firing rifle and shotgun rounds into the air. Murphy emerged from inside and pointed what was later identified as a World War II Kar 98 German infantry rifle at the officers, police said.
When he refused several orders to drop the weapon, two officers fired seven shots, police Officer Jeff Kappel said. Murphy was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where he died.
Where to start, where to start?
First off, firing a rifle in an apartment complex? Even if it was just blanks (and do shotgun blanks even exist?), it's a monumentously stupid thing to do. Rifles are loud. Extremely loud. Even at an outdoor range, with 150+ yards of open range over which the sound can dissipate, the report from an 8mm rifle is distinctive. In the closed confines of a college student's apartment, it probably sounded like Odin bowling.
Secondly, pointing a friggin' K-98 rifle, with or without bayonet, at a police officer is exactly the right thing to do - if you want to get your stupid ass shot. I'm sorry that Mr. Murphy is dead - anytime someone that young dies, even so senselessly, it's a tragic waste of life - but those officers literally had no choice. An 8mm round will cut through a police vest like a hot knife through butter - there's simply no "well, maybe we can talk him out of this" like they might be tempted were he pointing a Raven 25 ACP at them.
Today's take home lesson? Alcohol and firearms don't mix. Never. Ever. SRSLY. RIP Mr. Murphy. If nothing else, perhaps your life's tragic end can serve as a warning to others who don't realize that playing with firearms while drinking is just as senseless and dangerous as driving while drinking. Owning firearms, especially a powerful rifle like a K-98, is a big responsibility, and you need to be in total command of your faculties.
And secondly, if you point a rifle at the cops and don't drop it like a radioactive owl turd when told, you're going to meet the business end of a Glock Foh-tay and some 180 grain JHPs.
(One parting note: Is it just me, or is this story surprisingly free of PSH? Seattle, last time I looked, wasn't exactly a hotbed of conservative media, but IMHO this story is actually pretty free from vapid stereotyping and handwringing. Maybe there's hope yet...)
That is all.
10 comments:
(One parting note: Is it just me, or is this story surprisingly free of PSH? Seattle, last time I looked, wasn't exactly a hotbed of conservative media, but IMHO this story is actually pretty free from vapid stereotyping and handwringing. Maybe there's hope yet...)
Probably because the deadee was typecast as a history buff, rather than a "gun nut," and hence was deemed Mostly Harmless and the gun a "prop." So, it wasn't so much as stereotyping being absent as it was that they substituted one stereotype for another.
Check out more details (and the normal hysteria) on the Seattle Times website http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/home/). "The cause and manner of his death were not released by the King County Medical Examiner's Office on Friday". Interesting to note that junior already had the same rifle confiscated by the cops in 2006.
IMHO, if you point anything larger than stick at a cop (especially with his/her weapon drawn), you deserve to get your ass capped. One less canidate in the shallow end of the gene pool.
He must have flunked his Wehrmacht classes, because he couldn't follow orders worth a damn. If he had, he would still be alive.
It's very similar to Chris Rock's advice on how not to get beaten by the police.
Hear, hear.
And yes, they do make shotgun blanks. Winchester makes them with the typical AA 2 3/4 hull and wad, only it's filled with fine granulated PVC instead of shot.
And at distances of less than 6 feet, they'll still kill you as dead as John McCain's Presidential campaign.
RobertC,
Excellent point. Notice, too, that they're heavy on the NAZI memorabilia. I'd guess, too, that they don't want to stir too much up with a bolt action rifle - not evil enough...
Aluminut,
He already had the rifle confiscated? That's bad juju right there... No news on why, but it doesn't point to a responsible gun owner, that's for certain. It seems to me that he viewed the rifle as nothing more than a prop, rather than a weapon.
His ignorance was fatal. He lost his life, and two police officers will have to deal with the knowledge that they took a young man's life. This is of course compounded by everything coming out now, where it looks like he really was harmless.
Except that you can't bet your life - and the lives of others - when an 8mm rifle is pointed at you.
Bob,
Excellent point. I don't care who you are; I don't care if you don't even speak the language.
If I was in Russia, holding a 91/30 in my hands, and the Polizei were screaming SOMETHING at me in Russian and pointing guns at me, I'd drop that thing faster than a drunk sororoty girl's bloomers...
AD,
Thanks for the info.! I didn't know such a beastie existed.
And now, of course, I have to find me some... :)
This is truly a tragedy, one of stupidity on the part of the kid. No doubt his family will, as they all seem to, sue the police for not shooting the rifle out of his hand or something.
Murphy's Law ; p
Mmmm. The kid's labelled 'eccentric' which means he comes from money... otherwise he'd be called 'mentally ill.' I'm a little surprised that no one has publicly debated the 'suicide by cop' scenario.
Too many quotation marks. I'm done now.
Jay
For all us folks who are not as "hip" as you -- what does PSH stand for? Even Google doesn't know.
I really enjoy your blog. It is refreshing to read honest thoughts and you express them well.
Travlin,
PSH = Pants Shitting Hysteria.
Basically it's the media/liberals/fragile people going all crazy over anything even vaguely firearms-related.
See schools going into full lock-down mode over a single piece of brass found on location, that sort of thing.
And thanks for the kind words. :)
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