Troubled teen?

(written by lawrence krubner, however indented passages are often quotes). You can contact lawrence at: lawrence@krubner.com, or follow me on Twitter.

These parents were worried that their 16 year old son was suicidal and a danger to himself. They called the police. They were hoping 1 car would show up and help them talk to their kid. Instead, a whole army of police showed up and a sniper shot the kid — the worst possible outcome was achieved by calling the police.

In the minutes prior to his death, Andrew asked the negotiator he was speaking with to put his father on the phone, but that didn’t happen. Earlier, when his mother called 911, she attempted to have the operator confirm for her that just one car would show up at the house:

“I need you to get away from him if you think he is going to shoot you,” the 911 operator said on the call.

“I think he is going to shoot himself,” Lisa Messina replied.

The operator told her to get out of the home, and Lisa Messina asked, “How many cars are coming? Just one, right?”

“I’m not sure,” the operator replied.

But next thing they knew a slew of officers arrived.

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

Chuck Pekor, the family’s attorney, told CBS Atlanta that, “We have not been able to find any justification whatsoever for that Cherokee County Sheriff sniper to shoot Andrew Messina. Zero.”

This is what happens now in America, as a militarized police force becomes the new normal. You call the police in the hopes that they will talk your suicidal son out of killing himself, and instead they shoot him in the stomach and tell you it was for the best.

Post external references

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    http://gawker.com/5955454/they-brought-an-army-to-take-out-a-16+year+old-boy-says-mother-of-suicidal-teen-killed-by-police-sniper
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