student killed by cop in bat attack
I'm sure the parents are upset about their kid being killed but the cop acted correctly. he was just defending himself.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...&feed=rss.news
Relatives of a Fresno high school student who was shot to death after he clubbed a police officer with a baseball bat say the teen suffered from mental illness, but he never would have wished to die that way.
Jesus "Jesse" Carrizales, a 17-year-old sophomore, died Wednesday of a single bullet to the chest, fired by a school resources officer, Junus Perry, whom Carrizales had ambushed on a ramp outside his office. The first officers to reach the scene also found a small butcher knife protruding from Carrizales' pocket, authorities said.
Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said Thursday that the 6-foot-tall, 250-pound teen sought out the violent confrontation, which he called "a case of suicide by cop."
Police said there were no prior clashes between Carrizales and Perry, who spent the past three years assigned to Roosevelt High School by the police department.
But it wasn't the first time Carrizales had a run-in with police. In 2005, while in middle school, the student was cited for concealing a small knife in his backpack, Dyer said. Relatives said the knife belonged to a friend.
The next year, however, Carrizales' 10 brothers and sisters noticed he had become withdrawn, and the family decided he would do better at an alternative school where he could pursue independent study. He was prescribed Lexapro and Geodon, drugs used to treat depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and in January he transferred to Roosevelt High, said his sister Elisa Ortega.
"He was a boy who needed help," said Ortega, 27, said as she made funeral arrangements Thursday afternoon. "He was depressed and he was on medication and the school knew it, so maybe they could have treated things differently."
Carrizales' family said the officer didn't have to shoot the teen, and questioned authorities' account of the attack.
"He never said he wanted to die or anything close to that," Ortega said. "They didn't have to kill him. The Taser guns, the batons they have, that should have been enough to calm the situation down."
Dyer said after Carrizales surprised the officer from behind and struck him in the head with the wooden bat, Perry feared for his life.
The officer fell down dazed, and reached for the gun in his hip holster, but the clip fell out.
As the student came at him again, yelling obscenities and raising the bat above his head, Perry grabbed a secondary weapon — a semiautomatic handgun he carried as backup — from his ankle holster. He fired one round and hit Carrizales in the chest, Dyer said.
The student reportedly died within a few minutes, before paramedics arrived on scene.
"It is unfortunate that the officer was put in a position where he had to take a student's life," Dyer told reporters Thursday. "Had he not defended himself there could have been further tragedy."
At least five students and a probation officer on campus were in the area and witnessed the incident directly, police said. No one else was injured.
Fresno Unified School District spokeswoman Susan Bedi said a confidentiality agreement kept her from commenting on Carrizales' history in local schools, and on students'"individual plans."
His siblings described him as a lighthearted aspiring chef who preferred to play video games with his young cousins rather than take part in adult conversations.
"He was more of a kid himself. He was a momma's boy," said another sister, Irene Ortega, 25, speaking outside her mother's modest Fresno home. "We just want to know what happened before that incident to see what made him do what police say he did."
Perry is recovering at home after being treated for a 2-inch gash on the right side of his head, Dyer said. He is on administrative leave while the department reviews his conduct in their fourth officer-involved shooting this year.
Carrizales' relatives said police have refused to tell the family where his body is being held while they investigate the shooting.
As the first bell rang Thursday morning, students hurried to class filing between security guards posted every 100 yards.
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Originally Posted by Sharon den Adel
