In yet another reminder of why calling police for help is a bad idea, a Minnesota family is mourning the slaying of their 16-year-old son who was shot and killed by deputies Saturday after his mother called 911 for help.
Archer Amorosi, 16, a popular athlete with mental illness, had gone off his anti-depression medication, which apparently sent him in a rage a day before the shooting when his parents took away his car privileges, prompting them to call 911 on Friday as well.
Carver County sheriff’s deputies responded to the call on Friday, which ended without incident, so they already knew he was mentally ill when they returned to the home on Saturday after his mother had called them saying he had locked her in the garage and was threatening harm to himself and to her with knives and a baseball bat.
According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
Emergency dispatch audio from the Carver County Sheriff’s Office revealed how the altercation quickly unfolded.
“Male party has knives and a baseball bat,” the 911 dispatcher said of the initial call. “Mother is stating that he wants the officers to shoot him.”
The dispatcher identified the male as Amorosi. His mother, who called 911, said he had disabled the garage door, locking her inside the garage.
“I was there yesterday. Dad said that he’s got some mental health issues,” an officer responded on the audio. “Has this idea that he wants to go out like Bonnie and Clyde.”
The officer said the father wasn’t aware of any firearms on the property other than an airsoft pellet gun. An officer warned that the teen would be “hostile towards law enforcement as well.”
So the cops already had it in their heads that there was no other alternative but to shoot him dead, especially after they claimed they saw him in the living room holding “some kind of handgun” as well as a knife.
During the standoff, one cop said, “he does continually point a handgun in my direction,” which apparently made them fear for their lives. When the teen’s father arrived at the scene, they ordered him away, which was when they killed him.
An autopsy determined he died of multiple gunshot wounds. There has since been no word on whether he was holding a gun, so we can safely assume he was not.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), which is investigating the shooting, said Amorosi was “brandishing weapons” at deputies and others, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported.
Sheriff officials said the shooting “may have” been recorded by body and dash cam video, which generally means that we will only see the footage if it exonerates the cops.
The two deputies who shot him have been placed on administrative leave, which is routine for police shootings.
