HAPPY LABOR DAY … TO COME! A COP KILLS AND A PITTSFIELD INSTITUTION DIES
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, LABOR DAY 2017) — THE PLANET takes the day off, but we have a big week in store. This week, we shall give you fresh perspectives and new information on the following hot stories:
* A Pittsfield cop shoots and kills a citizen. Are we being told the facts?
* A Pittsfield institution, The Lantern restaurant, will close its doors. Is a Barney Fife to blame? THE PLANET has the exclusive.
Meanwhile, we invite your comments on these (or any other) stories. Have a good holiday, everyone.
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“Religion is philosophy, without the questions” — Christopher Hitchens
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
The Usual Disclaimer.
I do not know if we are being told the whole story or not but I am curious as to why 7 shots. Was the weapon an automatic?
police are trained to shoot to kill, and they get bullets for free…not unusual for the shell casing count to go into the dozens or hundreds per target
Unnecessary unlawful kill.
The media reports police were called to the house at 12:50pm. The man was shot and killed somewhere between 1pm and 1:30. The media reports the girlfriend had originally disarmed him and left the house. She was no longer in danger.
The media reports that he armed himself with a second knife, barricaded himself in the house and then left the house. Somewhat conflicting in my opinion – was he really barricaded? To be barricaded is defined by blocking entrances – usually with objects – to prevent entry. It also infers an extended period of time. Was he barricaded just briefly before he left the house? All this in a matter of minutes…
We also don’t know what happened inside the house. Apparently, now, there is only one witness who can describe that situation. Nothing can be corroborated. Who’s to say he wasn’t armed in defense against an aggressor?
A Facebook post shows a screenshot of his FB message to his best friend sent at 12:35pm. It says “Come pick me up.” He wanted out of there. He didn’t want to die by deadly force. I believe he was trying to leave the house, leave the situation, when he exited the home and was gunned down.
We don’t know that he was violent. We don’t know that he had committed any crime or harmed anyone. We only know he was armed. Being armed doesn’t equate to being violent. I cannot believe the situation had escalated to such a dire level of danger – in a matter of 15-20 minutes – that the police officer was in such fear for his life that he shot him. No, I think you have an already established trigger-happy cop that murdered a father of two, a friend to many in the community.
From iBerkshires:
Gillis refused to drop the weapon despite police orders, say law enforcement officials, and a civilian witness and a video from a bystander confirmed that.
Refusing to drop a weapon does not warrant instant death.
If the police say drop the weapon you drop it. Otherwise you are asking to be shot. The article also states he allegedly charged towards them.
So that’s okay? That’s acceptable? In our country and our society? To take someone’s life – to kill someone – KILL THEM – because they disobey an order?
Unbelievable.
Which, by the way, I saw the video – to say this man “charged” at them is a very generous and convenient description of his activity.
And it disgusts me that the cops on our streets – entrusted to fight real criminals and actual threats of violence are so scared and cowardly that they – trained law enforcement, armed with guns and covered in multiple layers of uniform/gear – were so threatened by an intoxicated guy wielding a knife – that a response of deadly force was the first attempt at defense. Absolutely disgraceful.
Can you provide the link to the video so I can judge for myself? I can’t find it anywhere on the web.
War of Pigs – it was briefly posted to Facebook and Snapchat. It has since been removed.
This incident should initiate an external, independent, review and investigation of the PPD and its actual implementation of its rules, regulations, and operational policies. But it won’t happen, The usual lip service and glossed over rhetoric will be spoon fed to an adoring public.
What civilian oversight and citizen accountability is in place for the PPD ? Not Boston civil service that deals with personnel issues. Acting Chief Wynn and city consulting attorney Dohoney eliminated any vestige of citizen accountability years ago under the Ruberto administration when they revamped the city ordinance and restricted the purview of the Police Advisory Committee to generally nothing substantive.
The PPD polices and manages itself, period; with no outside accountability except to the well entrenched local political structure.This bodes well for the officers involved in law suits against the city, officers charged with crimes, and citizen complaints, etc.Many of which are public record. Can you imagine what is really covered up and buried in the closets on Allen St, ?
Let’s let the facts come out before we jump to conclusions.
Yeah, I have to agree w/12 on this one. Let’s let the facts play out.
But to those who keep saying why didn’t he use a taser instead of shooting him, please google the “21 foot rule.” So, if a guy charges you with a knife and your taser doesn’t make contact, doesn’t work (misfire), than the cop has a knife plunged in him. Deadly force (knife) is met with deadly force (gun). A taser is intermediate force. Police are trained to meet or exceed force level of suspect. A cop would never use a non-lethal force against a person with lethal force. Would you?
If you say you would, I hope your life insurance policy is up to date. Remember, you don’t bring a knife to a gun fight.
No cop is paid to or expected to engage in hand to hand combat with a person who is drunk or under the influence of god knows what. I don’t know what was in the cops mind or in the mind of the guy who died. As information is made available we’ll know more about everyone who was involved and their state of mind.
Why would an officer get that close to the suspect to begin with. Fire a sniper shot at the guys legs. But getting that close to justify shooting to kill, bring a knife to a gunfight, that’s clever, I don’t think this guy would have hurt a fly, let alone stab a cop.
Name one sniper on the Pittsfield police force, and if you can tell me if he was on the scene. There are numerous articles explaining why shooting to wound is not the proper procedure in instances like this. And how to you know how close he even was?
So, you’re saying the victim was not attacking the officer, or the officer fired from a distance, if it’s the latter someone put seven into Mr. Gillis, pretty good shooting.
If he would not hurt a fly why was he brandishing a knife and refused to drop it when ordered to? Was he on his way to carve a turkey? Some drunk or high guy brandishing a knife is considered a danger to the public too, not just the cops. What do you expect the cops to do, just stand by while he runs away brandishing a knife?
Happy Labor Day!
But in Pittsfield, there are no living wage jobs, unless you are connected to one of the inbred, multigenerational local families.
People have better odds winning the state lottery jackpot than finding a good job in Pittsfield! Those are terrible odds!
The average Pittsfield laborer has to work several $12 per hour part time jobs to make ends meet.
The average Pittsfield resident relies on social services to subsist.
Pittsfield politics makes things worse for all of its have-nots by raising local taxes by 5% every fiscal year. Yet, they are all Democrats; how ironic!
– Jonathan Melle
It is incredible that the people of N K are in favor of these test bombs being launched by Jung. We currently have a nuclear bomb, with the capability of wiping out an entire Country the size of N K. Are they stupid?
They only know what their government tells them.
Kim would call it fake news reporting in North Korea.Today he says he didnt do it.
The problem with using nukes on North Korea is that it might be difficult to constrain the damage to N. Korea. It is a small country and if you want to knock out all the weapons they have on their border you make take out the capitol of South Korea in the process.
This situation calls for an assassination. The problem is Kim Jung. And we probably have people who can do it with one bullet instead of seven.
Ok Dusty, You assassinate Kim Jung. That’s probably pretty easy as you say. Then what? Who takes over or what is the plan after that? Who rules? China? South Korea? Usa? Russia? We have seen what happens in other countries where we have removed their leader. Total chaos.
What does Kim Jung want? Anyone know?
A Dennis Rodman jersey.
I find it disturbing that so many people will immediately point their finger at the police in instances like the latest shooting. But who do they call when they are in trouble. That’s right, those same horrible killers!
God Bless our PPD and others like them!!
People need to let the facts come out before judging. Wasn’t there a bystander video?
Someone has video of this.