Woman Is Accidentally Killed by Police Officer Playing ‘Bad Guy’ at Training Academy in Florida
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Version 2 of 7. A woman was accidentally shot and killed in Punta Gorda, Fla., by a police officer in a role-play exercise at a citizens training academy meant to help members of the community understand law enforcement tactics, the authorities said on Tuesday. Chief Thomas P. Lewis of the Punta Gorda Police Department said at a news conference on Wednesday that the woman, Mary Knowlton, 73, had been killed by an officer who fired a revolver that had been used before in “shoot/don’t shoot” training sessions, a role-play exercise intended to teach people how to make decisions when confronted with lethal force. The chief, who told reporters he had been present at the time of the shooting, did not name the officer or address why the officer used live rounds in the training session. Police departments across the United States, from Houston to Evanston, Ill., host some version of citizens academy programs for volunteers. Curriculums range from how to reach out to at-risks youth to so-called shoot/don’t shoot scenarios, which are often meant to show members of the public what police officers face when they confront an armed suspect, and which factors lead to the decision to fire their weapons. “This type of scenario-based role play is not only well received in our community, but has grown in use across the country,” Lt. Katie R. Heck of the Punta Gorda Police Department, said in a statement on Wednesday. A CNN report in May showed an anchor, Carol Costello, undergoing a shoot/don’t shoot training developed by F.B.I. agents. Ms. Costello was outfitted with a heart monitor and given a firearm. She was told to negotiate with a man portraying an emotionally disturbed person who later pulls out a weapon. Ms. Costello hesitates to pull her gun, and another man standing next to her says, “O.K., bam, you’re dead.” It is unclear what type of session was playing out in Punta Gorda, but Ms. Knowlton was chosen at random with another person to participate. She was shot during the first of two planned scenarios, the police said. The authorities did not say where she was shot or how many times, but Sue Paquin, a local photographer who was covering the event, told The News-Press in Fort Myers that the officer had fired several shots at Ms. Knowlton. According to a post by The Charlotte Sun on Facebook, the officer had been playing a “bad guy” in the scenario when he shot Ms. Knowlton. She was taken to Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers, where she was pronounced dead. Chief Lewis told reporters that the officer who shot Ms. Knowlton was placed on administrative leave and that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement would conduct an investigation into the shooting. In a statement on Wednesday, Howard Kunik, the city manager, also called the shooting a “horrific accident.” He said that the Police Department’s chaplain had been made available to assist the program’s other attendees. According to a Facebook page belonging to Ms. Knowlton, she was originally from Minnesota and had worked as a librarian. On Facebook, a niece of Ms. Knowlton, Jenny Tucker Christensen, said that the older woman had been married with two sons. Calls to a phone number listed for the Knowlton family were not immediately returned on Wednesday. Shocked residents of Punta Gorda, a harbor town of about 16,000 people near Fort Myers, reacted to the shooting on Facebook. On Wednesday, a debate about whether the officer should have been armed was brewing on the Police Department’s page. “An accident, really, so that makes it OK?” one observer noted. “Live rounds used in a citizens training exercise.” The department had operated the scenarios as part of its training program for about two years without incident, Lt. Heck, of the Punta Gorda department, said in an email Wednesday. |