Unarmed High School Sports Star Killed by Police as He Backed Out of His Own Garage

Source: Free Thought Project
Published: Jan 23, 2018
Author: Matt Agorist
Post Date: 2018-01-23 08:55:23 by Deckard
Views: 1762

Johnson County, KS — A family grieving and a town left in shock after police responded to a welfare check of a beloved high school student Saturday afternoon—and killed him. Blue Valley Northwest High School junior John Albers was unarmed and backing out of his garage when an Overland Park Police Officer opened fire on him, killing him on the spot.

The incident happened on Saturday and dispatch recordings were released Monday night which paint a picture of what happened. The most crucial part of the picture, however, is missing, and that is why the officer felt the need to kill the 17-year-old wrestling and track star.

Naturally, the officer is claiming that he feared for his life as the teen backed out of the garage, so he had no other choice but to kill him. Apparently, stepping sideways was not an option.

Police said that “as the responding officers approached the residence to make contact, the garage door opened and a vehicle exited the garage, moving rapidly toward one of the responding officers. The officer discharged his service weapon striking the male driver,” the statement said. “The driver died at the scene.”

The officer was entirely unharmed in spite of creating a dangerous situation in which the teen lost control of the vehicle as he was filled with bullet holes—illustrating the entirely unnecessary escalation of force.

According to the dispatch records, Albers girlfriend called police after she says during a facetime chat, the teen indicated that he wanted to harm himself.

Monday night, the Kansas City Star released the dispatch audio, along with a timeline of events:

By 5:50 p.m. Saturday, police dispatch alerted that the call to the Albers’ home was now “Code one. Stabbing.”

“Copy,” came a first-responder’s reply. “We’re sending them in.”

Within a minute, someone radioed, “It seems to be a confirmed J-21 (suicide attempt) at this time. And they’ve requested additional units.”

The last call picked up by the website Broadcastify was the dispatcher, listing three more officer numbers, saying, “You could all be en route for the (suicide) attempt” on West 149th Terrace.

The radio traffic found on the website does not reveal any clues on just when or how Albers was shot.

The officer who fired his weapon and killed the high school junior has yet to be named. The department only said that he has been placed on administrative leave while the shooting is being investigated by the Johnson County Officer-Involved Shooting Team.

Albers’ parents—who were not home when he was killed—have not spoken publicly to the press. The did, however, release a statement on social media saying, “We are heartbroken at the loss of our beloved son, John. We truly appreciate the outpouring of support from friends, family and community. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers and for respecting our privacy during this very difficult time.”

Albers’ death has hit the community hard, especially his schoolmates who remembered him as “loving,” “loyal,” and “giving.” On Sunday, dozens of students gathered to hold a vigil for the slain teen.

Albers was “very caring, very outgoing, very loyal,” and “very, very, very giving,” junior Gabriel Bright told BNVW News.

“I loved him,” he said. “I want to raise awareness and make sure everybody knew that this world, this bubble that we live in isn’t always so perfect.”

Indeed, while many people think police killings are reserved for a certain section of society, as Albers’ case illustrates, it can happen anywhere.

Post Comment   Private Reply

#1: misterwhite    To: Deckard (#0)

Albers girlfriend called police after she says during a facetime chat, the teen indicated that he wanted to harm himself.

He succeeded.

misterwhite posted on 2018-01-23 09:10:51   Reply   Private Reply


#2: Tooconservative    To: Deckard (#0)

The officer will be on administrative leave, as is standard procedure in such cases.

“The officer is fine,” Jenkins, the police captain, said Saturday night. “Very shook up, as you can imagine. Anytime this happens, officers are very upset that it had to happen.”

But it didn't have to happen at all.

Aw, the poor cop feels badly that he murdered an unarmed teen because he is so cowardly that he shot him for backing out of his garage.

But there is a positive note here: the teen did not commit suicide. And only a cop-hater would point out that preventing suicide by murdering the victim is a less than optimal outcome.

Don't call the cops for "wellness checks". Chances are that they'll just kill the victim and then a big coverup from the police will ensue.

Tooconservative posted on 2018-01-23 09:13:26   Reply   Private Reply


#3: A K A Stone    To: Tooconservative (#2)

I don't know what happened.

What if the kid backed out real fast trying to run over the officer?

Police don't usually just shoot you while backing out your driveway. So there is potentially more to the story.

A K A Stone posted on 2018-01-23 09:23:06   Reply   Private Reply


#4: Tooconservative    To: A K A Stone (#3)

Police don't usually just shoot you while backing out your driveway. So there is potentially more to the story.

Obviously, some cops do. They just shoot for no good reason at all.

C'mon, who shoots someone who is suspected of trying to commit suicide. You know that is irrational.

There is no indication at all that the teen was trying to run down the driver. And it is quite difficult to run someone down with a vehicle while driving in reverse at night.

I usually try to give cops some benefit of the doubt as a matter of civic virtue but at what point do we finally demand that the cops are accountable for just shooting willynilly at family dogs and people who are allegedly suicidal?

It seems far more dangerous to the victim to call for a wellness check (for suicide) than just to not call the cops at all. If the stupid bitch girlfriend hadn't Facetime'd with this teen and then called the cops, he would almost certainly still be alive. After all, who in America actually tries to commit suicide with a knife. It is exceedingly rare.

Tooconservative posted on 2018-01-23 09:33:49   Reply   Private Reply


#5: no gnu taxes    To: Tooconservative (#2)

The department only said that he has been placed on administrative leave

Paid vacation.

Woo Hoo

no gnu taxes posted on 2018-01-23 09:58:06   Reply   Private Reply


#6: Tooconservative    To: no gnu taxes (#5)

Paid vacation.

Maybe he got a terrific price on a Caribbean cruise but the precinct wouldn't give him any time off.

Shoot a 17yo kid for no good reason, bam, head for the cruise ship!

Tooconservative posted on 2018-01-23 10:35:36   Reply   Private Reply


#7: Stoner    To: Tooconservative (#6)

" Shoot a 17yo kid for no good reason, bam, head for the cruise ship! "

Get on board, and free donuts, woo hoo !

Stoner posted on 2018-01-23 11:12:02   Reply   Private Reply


#8: no gnu taxes    To: Stoner (#7)

I'm trying to figure out who I can shoot to get these perks.

no gnu taxes posted on 2018-01-23 12:04:59   Reply   Private Reply


#9: Tooconservative    To: no gnu taxes (#8)

I'm trying to figure out who I can shoot to get these perks.

Immunity from murder charges for shooting people willynilly requires a badge and official costume.

Do you have a badge and an official costume?

Tooconservative posted on 2018-01-23 12:06:26   Reply   Private Reply


#10: no gnu taxes    To: Tooconservative (#9)

I'm not one of those "hate cops" types.

However, I do remember an incident years ago in Baton Rouge. There was some guy whose car broke down right in the middle of freeway traffic, and got out of the car and stood behind it waving people away. Evidently, some guy saw him and moved to the next lane. However, there was a cop right behind that car and just smashed into the guy killing him.

Now, If I had done that that, at the very least, the cops would have taken me away in handcuffs and charged with negligent homocide.

However the cop was given "administrative leave," and later exonerated because the event was deemed unavoidable.

no gnu taxes posted on 2018-01-23 12:21:33   Reply   Private Reply


#11: Gatlin    To: Tooconservative (#2)

Many times you act in an objective manner and make good sense....this is definitely not one of those times.

You have absolutely no idea what happened here....all you know is what Matt Agorist told you to believe.

And from the information supplied only be Matt Agorist, you have declared the cop “murdered an unarmed teen”.

You surprise me ...

Gatlin posted on 2018-01-23 18:58:22   Reply   Private Reply


#12: Gatlin    To: Tooconservative (#9)

Immunity from murder charges for shooting people willynilly requires a badge and official costume.

District Attorney David Prater obviously didn’t get the memo for that when he filed the charge against Sgt. Keith Sweeney and listed an alternative charge of first-degree manslaughter in the Nov. 15 killing of 29-year-old Dustin Pigeon. An affidavit by a police investigator concluded that Pigeon was unarmed and didn't pose a threat to responding officers when Sweeney shot him.

Oklahoma officer charged in fatal shooting of suicidal man

Gatlin posted on 2018-01-23 22:33:33   Reply   Private Reply


#13: Gatlin    To: Tooconservative, A K A Stone (#4)

And it is quite difficult to run someone down with a vehicle while driving in reverse at night.

There is no indication at all that the teen was trying to run down the driver.

You passed judgment on a perceived assumption that Matt Agorist was correct when he stated that John Albers was “backing out of his garage.

The Overland Park PD issued this statement: “As the responding officers approached the residence to make contact, the garage door opened and a vehicle exited the garage, moving rapidly toward one of the responding officers,” said a written statement from Overland Park police spokesman John Lacy. “The officer discharged his service weapon striking the male driver. The driver died at the scene.”

From another source: According to the news release, the male victim “was driving a vehicle out of the garage” of the home when he was shot by one of the responding officers.

Putting aside perceived assumptions and until we have factual information, we have no way to determine if “toward” means pulling out backwards in “reverse” or pulling out forward in “drive”. Same question for “driving” out of the garage.

Gatlin posted on 2018-01-23 22:37:07   Reply   Private Reply


#14: Gatlin    To: Tooconservative (#4)

It seems far more dangerous to ...

It definitely is far more dangerous to drive your vehicle out of “the garage moving rapidly toward a police officer”.

Gatlin posted on 2018-01-23 22:38:01   Reply   Private Reply


#15: Gatlin    To: Tooconservative (#2)

... an unarmed teen ...

The person had been reported to be suicidal....the responding officer did not know he was dealing with an “unarmed teen”.

... he shot him for backing out of his garage.

He was not shot for “backing out of his garage”. We don’t even know that “backing” our and not “driving” out. He was shot because he was rapidly driving “toward” one of the responding officers.

Gatlin posted on 2018-01-23 22:40:33   Reply   Private Reply


#16: Gatlin    To: All (#15)

Police officers never know what to expect when responding to a suicide call. Two Forth Worth officers arrived at a house and found a man unresponsive with a gunshot wound to the head. The officers were told a witness was in the backyard shed. The officers were fired upon as they approached the shed and returned fire. After a standoff, police entered the shed and found the suspect dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. One of the officers was shot multiple times in the upper torso and arm and recovered from surgery at a local hospital. The second officer, who was wearing a bullet proff vest, received minor injuries.

Gatlin posted on 2018-01-23 22:41:33   Reply   Private Reply


#17: Hondo68    To: Gatlin, Dreamers Lives Matter (#16)

Police officers never know what to expect when responding

If the kid had been a Somali illegal alien DACA Dream Student the officer would have stepped aside, but they're trained to never yield to White Privilege so they shot the punk.

/s

Hondo68 posted on 2018-01-24 00:10:13   Reply   Private Reply


#18: Tooconservative    To: hondo68 (#17)

Please stop frightening me with pictures of that dangerous 17yo psycho.

Surely we need to buy more machine guns and armored cars for our easily-frightened ginormous-pussy-ass police to protect them from these menacing blond children.

Tooconservative posted on 2018-01-24 02:04:12   Reply   Private Reply


#19: Gatlin    To: A K A Stone, Tooconservative (#3)

I don't know what happened.

You are absolutely correct. You don’t know hat happened. Neither does Tooconservative nor anyone else simply from reading this Free Thought Project article by Matt Agorist. All we can possibly do here, at this point in time, is either believe Matt Agorist tries to CHANNEL us to Believe....or wait for complete and accurate details at a later time.

What if the kid backed out real fast trying to run over the officer?
That is a great question conceived by a sensible person with a rational mind. Even Matt Agorist stated the vehicle was moving “rapidly toward” one of the responding officers. According to a news release from a local source in Overland Park, the male victim was “driving” (not backing) a vehicle out of the garage towards one of the officers when he was shot by one of the responding officers.

So again, “we don’t know what happened”. We don’t even know if the vehicle had been driven forward into the garage and parked, or if the vehicle had been backed into the garage and parked. Yes. some individuals always “back” into back into every parking space they occupy with their vehicle including their garage. We just don’t know why they do that....maybe it’s a macho thing with them.

Police don't usually just shoot you while backing out your driveway.

True and irrespective of what cop-haters have programmed their minds to believe.

So there is potentially more to the story.

Definitely....most definitely!

The best takeaway I had from this article was the perspicuous observation Matt Agorist shared with us when he stated:

The most crucial part of the picture, however, is missing, and that is why the officer felt the need to kill the 17-year-old wrestling and track star.

Matt Agolrist is correct, in that we don’t know what we don’t know. And it is foolhardy for someone to irrationally pass judgment on something when they do not have complete information.

Gatlin posted on 2018-01-24 04:25:52   Reply   Private Reply


#20: Deckard    To: Gatlin (#19)

We don’t even know if the vehicle had been driven forward into the garage and parked, or if the vehicle had been backed into the garage and parked.

Oh FFS! This is the best excuse you can come up with for the asshole cop shooting an unarmed kid?

Keep kissing that blue ass Parsons.

Deckard posted on 2018-01-24 05:46:10   Reply   Private Reply


#21: Gatlin    To: Deckard (#20)

I need make no excuse for anything.

The young man was driving directly towards the officer by all accounts in various news sources and ….BAM….the officer shot him.

Justified shooting will be the outcome of the investigation.

Now we will wait to see how many millions of dollars the city will pay out to his family to settle a laswuit out of court.

Gatlin posted on 2018-01-24 12:45:17   Reply   Private Reply