RT: A Marine veteran says he was fired from the Weirton, West Virginia Police Department because he did not shoot an armed black man who was looking for “suicide by cop.”
Two other officers arrived and killed the man, whose gun was not loaded. Stephen Mader, 25, answered a call on May 6 from a distraught woman who said her boyfriend was trying to commit suicide. He tried to de-escalate the situation using his Marine Corps and police academy training, he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Weirton is a city of about 20,000 in the West Virginia panhandle, 36 miles west of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
“I saw then he had a gun, but it was not pointed at me,” Mader said, describing a silver handgun that Ronald Williams of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania held in his right hand, pointed at the ground. Williams, 23 and known as “RJ,” told the officer to “just shoot me.” “And I told him, ‘I’m not going to shoot you brother',” Mader told the Post-Gazette.
Two other officers arrived and killed the man, whose gun was not loaded. Stephen Mader, 25, answered a call on May 6 from a distraught woman who said her boyfriend was trying to commit suicide. He tried to de-escalate the situation using his Marine Corps and police academy training, he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Weirton is a city of about 20,000 in the West Virginia panhandle, 36 miles west of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
“I saw then he had a gun, but it was not pointed at me,” Mader said, describing a silver handgun that Ronald Williams of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania held in his right hand, pointed at the ground. Williams, 23 and known as “RJ,” told the officer to “just shoot me.” “And I told him, ‘I’m not going to shoot you brother',” Mader told the Post-Gazette.