Two suspected shoplifters shot by Olympia police

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Two men suspected of attempting to steal beer from the west Olympia Safeway were shot by an Olympia police officer early Thursday morning.

Employees at the Safeway at 3215 Harrison Avenue W. reported about 1 a.m. that two black men had attempted to steal beer and when confronted by employees, threw the items at them and fled, according to a news release.

An officer found two men matching the description a short distance away and a few minutes later notified dispatch that he had been involved in a shooting.

Preliminary reports were that both men had been shot in the chest. One suspect is in stable condition at Tacoma General Hospital. One is in critical condition at St. Peters, according to Olympia Police Chief Ronnie Roberts.

Both men are in their twenties and believed to be from the Thurston County area.

The officer, who has been an officer for 3 years, has been put on administrative leave while the incident is investigated, following Olympia Police Department policy. The Thurston County Critical Incident Team is investigating the shooting. The Critical Incident Team is composed of detectives from five local agencies.

Cooper Point Road in the area of 14th Avenue NW is closed for the investigation.

More details will be released throughout the day.

I'd shoot some sumbitch trying to steal my beer too........

The only way to reduce crime is to get the message across that crime doesn't pay. Good work by the officer on the scene. However I hope Police Chief Roberts sends the officer for more range training. A double tap to center mass followed by one to the head prevents repeat offending.

wonder if there will be riots in Olympia now. hearing that they were not armed. you know how rumors fly around after shoots like this

Really.Good luck,

SZ

Rumor is they had skateboards.

http://www.theolympian.com/2015/05/21/3737619_two-suspected-shoplifters-shot.html?rh=1

They couldn't pay for the beer because they blew their wad at the green cross store on Black Lk Blvd. Don't bring a skateboard to a gunfight is my thought.

Just from what I've ready in the Daily Zero so far:

Two brothers attempted to steal beer.
Officer locates suspects a few minutes later in the area.
Officer contacts them, and an assault happens, possibly with skate boards.
Officer shoots or shoots at one, the brothers disengage, then approach the officer again where he shoot at the other brother.


Things I learned:
1. Don't steal. Bad things can happen.
2. Get away from the area if you are stupid enough to fail at stealing beer. Oh wait, they failed at stealing beer so they are probably pretty stupid to begin with.
3. When contacted by an officer, comply, especially if you know you were a dumbshit. DO NOT swing at the officer with a skate board.
4. If somebody shoots or shoots at you, and you are able to get away, stay away. If you approach them in another attempt to assault them, armed only with a skateboard, you're probably going to get shot at, again.

In case you don't think a skateboard is a weapon, here you go. http://fox43.com/2014/08/25/red-lion-ma ... al-attack/

Just google skateboard attacks.

Listen to the police audio.

http://media.theolympian.com/smedia/2015/05/21/13/33/abHzN.So.38.mp3#storylink=relast

Had to have been Malt liquor.

We all know that apprehending a couple of shop lifters is more important than
1. The life of the officer
2.the life of shoplifters.

No sense in backing off an waiting for a better opportunity to deal with it. My guess is the 90 days of training at door shaker school and the overwhelming need to make up for a small penis forced the cop to charge in and make the bust of the century. Common sense failed on both sides and as long as people continue to be afeared they will allow cops to pull this BS. This door shaker has proven unqualified to carry a gun.

common sense tells me not to hit a cop with a skateboard... what does it tell you?

Its irrelevant . What led up to the cop getting hit with the skate board and how much opportunity was there to avoid the altercation in the first place? Back up? Taser?

I guarantee you your two boys are about to enter a phase of life that requires them to suspend common sense at times on the name of fun. You ok with them getting shot over it or do you hope someone with some common sense will exercise judgement?

Why does being a boy of a certain age require the suspension of common sense? They may do dumb things but should be smart enough to figure a way out that is safe.

hormones, peer pressure, rites of passage or just simply differentiating your self from others. lots of reasons common sense gets suspended. Sometimes you need other people to exercise common sense to get out safely.

If you assault a highly trained man with a gun, what do you think will happen? They didn't run, they approached and assaulted and received the amount of force the officer felt justified using. There is a growing movement in this country that laws do not need to be followed and police officers can be treated less than human. If you don't want to deal with a highly trained man with a gun, don't break the law.

By what standard are they highly trained? The avg patrol officer in the state of Washington spends 6 months in an academy. nsme another profession that makes life and death decisions everyday that has that little training. Quit treating them like a special class of people and treat them like any other profession and hold them accountable.

The officers standard of training is not our determination to make. The offenders would not have been shot if they did not assault the officer. The officer acted in self-defense and had he used a less than lethal option he may have been overtaken by the offenders with the possibility of suffering great bodily harm or death. It's his duty to enforce the law, protect himself and other citizens.

Stealing beer, assaulting civilians and police officers may not be justify lethal force to you, but the officer is applying his standard of training to the situation. It's a shame you don't feel police should be able to protect themselves. Officer deaths have doubled in the last year because amazingly enough criminals do not like them.

SEATTLE (AP) — One of the officers who killed an immigrant farmworker in Washington state in a shooting that helped fuel the nationwide debate over police use of force had dragged the man away from his burning rental home just weeks earlier.

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/crime/arti...ged-6215572.php

You need to do your homework being a cop is not anywhere near as dangerous as you believe . I thought the officers worked for the citizens and by definition are accountable to the citizens? They are not atonomus entities. I meet traditionally every six months with the King County Sheriff as a part of my communities organization. We have met every 45 days recently due to a spike in property crime. their response is we need more money to hire more officers even though crime is down and the size of the police force has quadrupled in the past 20 years. Citizens have a huge role in how the officers are trained and expected to react with their comunities. I was shocked to hear how little training they undergo to be put into the field and how little they receive over time. If an officer is shooting an unarmed shoplifter or is even putting himself into position have to use deadly force against said , something is wrong. Take police off the pedestal treat them like every other profession and hold them accountable. Since 911 cops and firemen have become gods. Great PR campaign sucks for freedom.