Citizens: are you okay with this? Does your position on this case mirror your position on the death penalty in general, or does this fall under the category of "self-defense, and therefore permissible"?

Cop poses as pizza driver, kills robber

Tribune staff reports
Published February 11, 2007, 2:41 AM CST

A Chicago police detective posing as a pizza delivery man shot and killed a robbery suspect and wounded another late Saturday in a crackdown on robbers preying on pizza drivers.

A third suspect fled, but police later arrested a man who might have been part of a trio that tried to rob the undercover police detective.

"We've had an ongoing pattern of pizza drivers being stuck up by armed offenders," said police department spokesman Pat Camden. Toward the end of January, he said, police issued an alert to pizza stores asking for their cooperation in telling police of suspicious activities.

robbery suspect? hmm

well, he was a suspect. I don't think is right to kill a suspect.

What were the circumstances behind the shooting? Did the cop at any time identify himself? Were the suspects armed? Was it a gun? Did they point the weapon at the cop? Did they fire 1st?

how is it different than prostitution stings or internet child sex stings??? I have alot of freinds who are paying there way through college as pizza/sub drivers, and many of them have had a gun shoved in there face, or worse (a former roomate had to get staples in his head) I really have no problem with this sort of sting...

now the fact that the cop shot his is suspect, but the sting its self NOT CRAP

I used to work as a pizza delivery driver at Uptown pizza in Minneapolis. During my time at the job I had a few close calls. I can sympathize with the need for a sting operation like this to discourage crimes against delivery drivers. However, I always feel torn with these situations because cops tend to escalate problems more than they help them because they are so trigger happy. It sucks that the kid was killed and I wish there was a way that the cop could have incapacitated him without killing him. Not knowing the full story I understand that the situation may have been a kill or be killed one. Still, such a shitty waist of a life.
If the sting continues and more robbers end up sticking guns in cops faces does this mean that cops are just going to be killing robbers left and right?

BadComrade wrote:

Sebastian J. wrote:well, he was a suspect. I don't think is right to kill a suspect.

The kid drew a gun, aimed it at the cop, and demanded money.

Since you obviously have a better source than Bob's post please share it.

Ever watch Cops? When a "suspect" rams into a police car and drives away? Do you think they still call him a "suspect" because they aren't 100% sure if he just actually hit them or not? The title you refer to the offender changes along with the legal process. Sometimes there are differences between legal terms and vernacular terms.

It's kind of hard for me to go one way or the other without knowing everything that happened. I give the sting itself a Not Crap.

whirlindervish wrote:If the sting continues and more robbers end up sticking guns in cops faces does this mean that cops are just going to be killing robbers left and right?

You make a good point. If pizza driver robbers think that they might be facing a cop, they might get more trigger happy right off the bat, and 'shoot first' might become the strategy, because giving the driver the chance to hand over the money might also be giving a cop a chance to draw his piece.

It could get *more* drivers hurt.

BadComrade wrote:http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/252727,pizza021107.article

Ouch, fifteen. Well, one time I was in my car at a drive thru line and a kid on a bike who looked to be about 11 pulled up quick to my driver's window and robbed me at gunpoint.

sun times wrote:A detective walked up to the address to deliver the pizza, but no one was at the home. Upon returning to the unmarked car, he was approached by three offenders, described as black males, one of whom was allegedly armed. According to Camden, the offenders demanded the detective’s money and the pizza.

Most of the robberies usually go like that. People call in an address of a house nowhere near their own neighborhood, and then wait for the driver to start walking with his hands full of pizza and pop. The robbers know they can't get an order delivered to the 33rd floor of Ida B. Wells.

Hmm... The article says he was armed, but I still don't read anywhere that the kid either "drew his gun" or "aimed it at the cops head." But to be fair, I do like Anti-flag.

If that was the case, I guess don't blame the cop. The kid was fifteen, that's rough, but doesn't make the situation any less serious. Plus it seems he was actually fighting some real crime, not just hasseling people.

These kids obviously weren't fucking around:

the offenders demanded the detective’s money and the pizza.