Shootings

robbery. He crashed the car and attempted to carjack another.

nAug. 15: A Sunnyvale police officer fatally shot Allen Matthew Baker III, 23, during a foot chase. According to police, he pointed a gun at the officer.

nAug. 16: Two San Jose police officers fatally shot Matthew Castillo, 29, one of three suspects in the Aug. 13 killing of Christopher Wrenn.

nAug. 17: San Jose police fatally shot Richard Jacquez, a second suspect in Wrenn’s killing. He was shot in the back as he ran toward his cousin’s house. He was not armed at the time.

All shootings involving police officers are not created equal. Yet we live in such a polarized society — even more so in the wake of Ferguson, Missouri, and other highly publicized police shootings — that people often can’t see beyond their own ideology. I’m amazed at how often officers tell me that bad police shootings aren’t a serious problem and that the media blows a few cases way out of proportion.

Then, we have the kneejerk police protesters.

More than 100 people took to the street in Oakland to protest Wilks’ killing. The man was armed, tried to carjack people, and a police video released Wednesday morning should put to rest any question of whether the police acted appropriately.

We need more independent thinkers willing to consider the facts, rather than leaping to ideologically based conclusions.