Andrew Weissmann on ICE Shooting: You Get a Sense of the Agent’s Mental State by the Profanity He Uses, a Real Lack of Training and Respect

RUSH EXCERPT:
WEISSMANN: "Sure. Well, with the caveat that, you know, obviously we still should await all of the evidence, but based on what we know now. And the other caveat is that when I was at the FBI, I would look at these sort of judgmental shooting situations, and they were brought to me and others to examine, and I generally had a view that the FBI, like many, many people in law enforcement, have a very tough job and was sort of predisposed sort of on their side. I do have, with all of that significant questions. I would be looking at a number of things. One, the agent here that was had the his gun unholstered and drawn seemingly at a time when there was no need for that. But even let’s go further. Even after the first shot, and let’s assume the first shot is a rorschach test where, you know, we see different people viewing it in different ways. I tend to see no reason here for that first shot. I’m very interested in Michael’s view, but what I would focus on as a prosecutor is the second and third shot, which I don’t see any basis for very often when you see multiple shots, it’s because of the heat of the moment and a person is shooting very quickly because they fear for their lives and they’re in danger, and the other person they believe has a weapon. But here the car is leaving. And so I have a lot of questions about that second and third shot as sort of being I don’t see any reason for that at all. No justification. And then finally, I do think you get a sense of the mental state of the agent by the profanity he uses and a real lack of training and respect. That is not how any sort of career person would be and should be handling a situation like this. And it to me, something’s off. I mean, it really tells you that there’s a problem here in that there’s this kind of language being used when that’s not the role of somebody who is like Michael in law enforcement, who is trained and respectful of civilians and understands their role working for the public."