A bizarre shooting case in Spokane County is almost certain to take on something of a “life of its own” as investigators sort out how and why a 74-year-old church pastor and nursery operator was killed by a policeman who may have been at the nursery to protect it from thieves.
One of this column’s regular readers in the Spokane area is concerned that gun prohibitionists will use the incident as a platform from which to launch another campaign to take guns out of the hands of private citizens. By the same logic, one might argue that this is proof positive police should be disarmed, if one wants to make such an extremist contention.
The late Wednesday night shooting has been reported by the Spokane Spokesman-Review and KREM News. Apparently, Pastor W. Scott Creach, who lived next door to his Plant Farm business and was a pastor at the Greenacres Baptist Church for four decades, went outside to investigate a strange car in the nursery parking lot, thinking it might be a burglar.
Prior to the shooting, however, the Spokane Valley Police Department, which is staffed by Spokane County Sheriff’s deputies, had been asked to increase patrols in the area of the nursery. It was not clear who made the request, but KREM reported that there had been increase reports of prowling in the area recently.
A handgun was found by Creach’s body, and both news agencies said he was shot after some type of “confrontation” occurred between the pastor and the officer, whose car was unmarked.
Late night encounters between police and legally-armed citizens can turn out very bad. Nobody should try to second-guess what happened, but wait until the evidence is sorted out and then see what can be learned from this.
Meanwhile, get out the crying towels for accused cop killer Christopher Monfort. The paralyzed Monfort – left disabled by a cop’s bullet a few days after the Halloween slaying of Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton – has become something of a raving bonehead during various court appearances. Now Monfort and his attorney are reportedly concerned that a King County judge is not going to delay a decision by King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg on whether to seek the death penalty against the accused killer.
If Monfort is found guilty as charged, he ought to pay the ultimate penalty, wheelchair or not, because of the nature of the crime. Forget that Brenton was a police officer. He was a citizen, like anybody else, simply doing a job, sitting in his car with a partner, posing no danger or threat to anyone.
One thing this case highlighted is the erroneous use of the term “assault rifle” by authorities, and reporters who are too damn lazy, and perhaps prejudiced, to know the difference. This column correctly identified the firearm allegedly used by Monfort as early as last November, and it was not an “assault rifle” at all, but a sport carbine sold by a Florida firm, Kel-Tec.
But the fact that this gun was a semiautomatic, had a black synthetic stock and apparently had been fitted with an after-market magazine was enough for some police administrator to mistakenly identify it as a so-called “assault rifle.” When this column raised the issue with a local reporter via e-mail, the reaction was that we had “an agenda” and that because the public accepts the definition (even if it is wrong), then it is evidently okay to be technically wrong.
We are reminded of an old Duke Wayne flick The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. A newspaper editor, upon learning that the real killer of bad guy Valance was not who everyone thought it was, uttered this bit of wisdom: “When legend becomes fact, print the legend.”
Presumably, that makes being technically inaccurate just peachy.
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Comments
"Nobody should try to second-guess what happened, but wait until the evidence is sorted out and then see what can be learned from this. "
Ummmm... Dave, aren't you doing precisely that when you ask: "Has a Spokane Valley policeman fatally shot the wrong man?"
No, "anonymous," I'm asking a question.
In the case of the Pastor being shot, given everyone the benefit of the doubt I can see a Man protecting his Property from what he believed to be a Criminal, especially after seeing an unidentified Police Vehicle, and in turn the Officer sees a man with a gun thinking he has confronted a bad guy, My only Question is did the Officer Identify himself as a Police Officer before the Shooting or did they both shoot thinking they were in danger of being Killed, This case will bear some watching.
As to the assault Rifle issue, it is never and I repeat Never OK to misidentify a weapon, especially in the Court of Public Opinion. The US Congress should be ashamed of themselves for showing their Ignorance and labeled any Weapon that resemble a Military weapon an Assault Rifle, The difference between the Assault and Sporting Weapon is dramatic and quite clear if the uninformed would take the time it would take to demonstrate the actual Difference, but when you are out to vilify the Weapon from the get go, I can see why the Reporter said what he said, and by doing so showed his Ignorance as well.
"When this column raised the issue with a local reporter via e-mail, the reaction was that we had “an agenda” and that because the public accepts the definition (even if it is wrong), then it is evidently okay to be technically wrong."
Maybe then it would be okay to refer to people of a particular skin color/tone as inferior, if only --according to the 'local reporter'-- the public accepts that thought as true ...
Of course, that theme could well be adapted to meet any particular meme.
The MSM are more biased than they are wanting to admit of.
You hand gun people make no sense...end of story...
Any car in any lot in America looks like a criminals car to red neck cop. Should be a murder rap.
Sad all around. Thoughts are with both the officer and the deceased's family
"Spokane Valley Police Chief Rick Van Leuven declined to comment about any aspect of the investigation."
Which means the unidentified trespasser-and-murderer is on paid vacation, as usual after killing a citizen.
The LEOs in the Spokane area seem to be a trigger happy lot, as recent history shows.
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