Colorado Police Shoot 73-year-old Veteran

According to Stars & Stripes (August 2, 2018) 73-year-old Richard Black, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, shot an intruded in his home in order to protect his grandson. Upon arrival of police responding to a 911 call, the responding officers shot and killed Mr. Black when he stepped onto his front porch still holding the firearm he had used to defend his grandson.

A responding officer fired four rounds, killing Mr. Black.

Aurora Police Chief Nick Metz said in the department's first detailed account of the shooting he did not hear the uniformed officers identify themselves as police in body camera video. He acknowledged that Black, a decorated Vietnam veteran, had a "significant hearing impairment" from his military service that may have made it hard for him to hear the orders to drop his gun.

26-year-old Dajon Harper, the intruder that had broken into the Black's home had been released from prison in February after serving time for weapons and menacing charges.  In one of several 911 recordings released Thursday night, a woman who identified herself as Harper's mother told the dispatcher that her son was on drugs but was unarmed. "He's literally kicked in some people across the street door. ... He's on some type of drug or something," she said frantically. "He's running through the neighborhood busting cars, busting in people's doors while they sleep. I don't know what he's on. He's bleeding." The woman later said Harper is "hurting this little baby. He kicked in their door." 

The police chief said Black acted heroically to protect his family but also defended the actions of his officers, including the one who killed Black, a fellow military veteran who was involved in another fatal police shooting just over a month ago.
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Police have a difficult and at times dangerous job. Even if found to be justified, the death of Mr. Black is tragic - shot by police while defending the life of his grandson from a drug fueled violent attacker.

But also of concern is the fact that the police officer who killed Mr. Black had been involved in another fatal shooting just a month earlier. Can we really expect a police officer who has recently been involved in a fatal shooting to return to work after taking a few days off and be stable in the next potentially violent or deadly situation they face?