But not before she wounded three of them:
Three Atlanta police officers were shot and wounded and an elderly woman killed at a house in northwest Atlanta Tuesday night.
The woman, identified by relatives as 92-year old Kathryn Johnson, opened fire on the officers from the narcotics division at a house at 933 Neal Street, according to officials. Authorities say they received a tip of drug activity taking place at the home and officers were headed to the house with a search warrant.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that Mrs. Johnson probably wasn’t dealing any drugs. Certainly the Atlanta police haven’t claimed to have found any drugs.
In a report from Fox News in Atlanta the reporter says this:
Atlanta Police…insist the warrant was legal and the use of force necessary.
Yes, but was the raid necessary?
These raids are a crazy situation. The police, by virtue of their warrant, have a legal right to break into somebody’s house. The occupant, by virtue her natural right of self defense, has the right to use lethal force to prevent a home invasion. The police, by virtue of their natural right of self defense, have the right to use lethal force to defend themselves if attacked.
It’s not hard to see how that can go wrong. If the occupant fails to realize that the invaders are police—either because she is mistaken or because they don’t identify themselves properly—you’ve got the makings of a perfect tragedy, a life-or-death gunfight between people who are both firing in self defense.
The police say the officers knocked and announced themselves, but that’s not the same as identifying themselves. In fact, according to reports, the officers were in plain clothes, and therefore indistiguishable from common criminals, who also sometimes yell “Police!” when breaking down doors. I have the feeling that a lot of these shootings could be avoided if the cops would take the time to put on uniforms and make themselves look like police.
Then again, a lot of these situations could be avoided by simply not conducting these stupid raids.
Update: Police are now saying there was a controlled drug buy at the location and that they found what might be drugs at the scene.
Update: Here, via Instapundit, is a bird’s eye view of the house. It may have nothing to do with anything that happened yesterday, but it makes me angry just to see it: The house has a wheelchair ramp.
Update: Pete Guither points out that the next day the fucktards at the Drug Czar’s office are bragging about financing anti-drug police efforts in Atlanta.
Good job! Just a few million more dollars and I’m sure they’ll have wiped out the scourge of drug-dealing grandmothers.
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