Shoot to kill???
A very rare thing happened yesterday: police apprehended a legitimate suspect in a violent crime with terrorist overtones without killing him (or her) on the spot. I'd like to thank the police officer who had the professionalism to hit Ahmad Khan Rahami in the shoulder rather than in the usual lethal locations. Did this officer just "miss?" Perhaps. Given our track record of killing unarmed suspects, there's a good chance the officer was trained to shoot to kill. And of course this expedited approach to justice is a key component of what's now often referred to as the "school to prison pipeline" we're running to get black men into the prison labor pool. But, if not, I express my appreciation for letting us skip one more extra-judicial assassination. My instinct is that it's particularly important in this case, because we don't know what Mr. Rahami had in mind or who he was working with. But I realize that's a moral mistake...