[kellyhound]

An unidentified man was shot and killed by law enforcement officers on U.S. 19 just across from Crossroads Mall in Beckley on Wednesday morning.

As of 2 p.m., the West Virginia State Police and the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department have not released any information about the incident.

However, a number of videos, recorded by private citizens, have made their way to social media sites.

One of the videos shows the shooting.

Carrying a handgun, the man – slender with long hair and dressed in sweat pants, a sweatshirt and tennis shoes – had led officers through a ditch on the north side of the four-lane highway and up and onto the northbound lanes.

He had apparently run his car into the ditch during a police pursuit.

The man was motioning at various times to police who had guns drawn and pointed at him.

On the roadway, he had pointed the gun at his own head. At another time soon after, he quickly crouched, folding his arms around his head, then rose back up quickly and kept walking.

Soon after, he waved his free hand and then was shot multiple times.

At about 1 p.m., sheriff's deputies left the scene. It is believed that a sheriff’s deputy fired the first shot of several that were fired by officers. It is not known which agency is conducting the investigation.

At about the same time, a tow truck hauled away a dark blue Chevrolet pickup that the man had driven into the ditch and his body, lying on the road and covered by a white sheet, was removed from the scene by ambulance.

A separate video shows the man trying to enter a residence in Beckley earlier in the day.

All four lanes of U.S. 19 were opened back up around 2 p.m.

[kellyhound]

pics.

[-NocturnalPulse-]

Great post. They lit his ass up. I tried to see if he pointed his gun at them, but couldn’t tell

[VileBreed]

Didn’t even look like he pointed his gun at them, but oh well.

[Specialsman]

Once he put the gun to his own head, he pretty much was asking for what he got. He just thought he’d get it aiming his weapon at the officers.

[kelly25ans]

it does not seem justified to me and it will make much less talk than this black man who took 60 bullets

[Mr.NoCredit]

Excellent Post!

Sad to see how the police seem more intent on shooting a person to death rather than subduing the individual. It was pretty obvious he was having a mental breakdown and needed some kind of help. I'm not sure he got it by getting shot that many times. Hell, he dropped the weapon he had after the first shot and went down. Why the barrage of bullets afterwards... makes me think that cops in general just want to kill people. I'm glad we have law enforcement but believe they need new training and different rules to abide by.

[Susan]

The cops say the guy waved goodbye to motorists before turning back round to the cops and that's when they shot him. Even if they believe that to be true, they still are trigger happy.

[infidel66687]

At least they prevented him from killing himself

[houseoftechno]

Originally Posted by Mr.NoCredit ↗

Excellent Post!

Sad to see how the police seem more intent on shooting a person to death rather than subduing the individual. It was pretty obvious he was having a mental breakdown and needed some kind of help. I'm not sure he got it by getting shot that many times. Hell, he dropped the weapon he had after the first shot and went down. Why the barrage of bullets afterwards... makes me think that cops in general just want to kill people. I'm glad we have law enforcement but believe they need new training and different rules to abide by.

Probably a radioed "open fire" by incident commander - not anything the gunman did (except maybe eyeing the stopped traffic). That's why everybody fired too. Gunman was getting too close to general public and police pursuers (without cover). Cops gave him plenty of opportunities to drop his weapon and surrender. He chose to die instead. Shoot command was to avoid gunman killing/maiming exposed public or LEO.

Correct decision.