As I posted a few days ago, police in Longview, Texas, tragically shot and killed a 17-year-old girl last week.  Her name was Kristiana Coignard.

In the newly released video, it’s clear that her shooting death was completely and totally avoidable.

After speaking with officers and roaming around the lobby of the police station for ten minutes, Kristiana, who was struggling with mental illness, was subdued by an officer in the lobby until two additional officers entered.

After Kristiana clumsily charges at the original officer, he shoots and kills her instantly.  We’ve been told she was “brandishing” a knife.  I don’t see it, but (for now) we’ll take the officers word on that.

Even then, a lot of questions come to mind: Why did he not handcuff her earlier in the minutes he had her subdued? Why did he not search her for weapons earlier? Why did he not Taser her with a stun gun? Why did he not use pepper spray? Why did he not simply grab her and subdue her again? Why did he not throw a chair at her, run from her, ANYTHING?

This cannot and should not be the best practice for police officers.  Firing your weapon should be the LAST RESORT.  I’m pretty sure it used to be. If this is all our officers are trained to do, it’s insufficient.