Killing a child deserves harsher consequences

A Texas police officer who fatally shot a teenager with a rifle has been fired amid an investigation.

A good start, now try to convict this officer — something he didn’t allow for the young man he killed, for whom he set himself up as judge, jury and executioner. What kind of cop fires into a car full of teens not knowing or caring who he could wound or kill? Steve Evets

A cop shoots a black teenager and lies about impending threat. His punishment? He loses his job. Sounds like a slam dunk case of murder to me. I worked with many great officers — some of the best citizens I have ever seen — and they would want nothing to do with this sort of trash! Christopher Dunn

This looks like a murder case. It may be an old idea but I wish police would be required to walk a beat, or ride a bicycle through neighborhoods. Then they would get to know these neighborhoods and give people an opportunity to get to know them. Maybe there would be a better understanding between police and the community.

I’m sure residents would appreciate that instead of police just showing up with guns drawn ready to kill. Not all police officers are bad, but perhaps getting to know people in areas that they patrol would help everyone. Steve Porter

Tragic incident. I’m not on either side, but I would like to know whether or not the nowterminated cop had any racist intentions. There is always more information than reported and initially gathered by law enforcement. And the news media are at it again with their ongoing “black kid killed by white cop” nonsense, causing more unnecessary racial tensions. Michael Younger

The cop shot into a moving vehicle on a residential street. Think about that for a second. What if he missed his intended target? Where would the stray bullets go? Into your house? Into your living room? Into your kid’s bedroom? What do they teach cops about gun safety these days? How reckless! Bob Humphrey