Here's the article, with this abbreviated description:
The woman told the 911 operator that he was inside with a shotgun, saying he wanted to die.
When the police arrived, a neighbor told them that the distraught man was in a nearby grassy area behind some homes .... armed with a shotgun. They went to the spot, finding the man sitting on the ground with the weapon pointed at himself,
"When the deputy ordered (him) to drop the shotgun, he told the deputy to shoot him and began to point the shotgun in the direction of the deputy," After again refusing to drop the gun, a volley was fired, The man, barely alive, pointed the gun at the deputies, eliciting the final shots.
The deceased, who did not fire his gun, died at the scene. His name was withheld pending full family notification.
My wife or myself walk our dog by his condo every day, and he may be someone I would recognize, maybe even have a nodding relationship with. It wouldn't be much more than that, since that's how things are here. But the nods, the smiles, the simple interactions like when a toddler points at our pooch happily singing "doggie" and I connect with, "You can pet him if you want to, he's very friendly." And as she and her mom approach, the child maybe a bit hesitant, I joke, "The worst thing he will do is lick your face."
Our city of 60,000 has about one murder every three years, but unlike such crimes there's no local data on suicides, and really can't be. How many auto deaths, when someone gets loaded and takes to the highway are really suicides. We also have a railroad that goes right through the best part of town, and every once in a while there is a fatal "accident." These don't count as suicides.
The world is focusing on another suicide this week where the instrument of death wasn't a cop, but a plane, one filled with people who didn't have a hint that their lives about to end, anticipating reuniting with friends or other pleasures.
My neighbor's death, unlike Andreus Lubitz, the co-pilot, won't be noted past this metropolitan area. Yet, such suicides, or risks likely resulting in death, like my neighbors, or with multiple variations, take vastly more lives than this rare event over the Alps. It's hard to do research on this topic except for the small percentage under medical care. But, human connections matter, that we know. They matter when you are walking along a suburban street and you pass someone, and smile, maybe even see if the person is looking for a conversation. It could be that taking a bit of time can make a difference, as the person will know, if this guy likes me, maybe others can.
And it matters on websites like this one. When people express something, anything, there are ways of disagreeing that still convey that the person is valued, that he's not an enemy even if he (or, of course, she) has different views.
In California there will be an initiative in the next election for an Oregon style physician assisted suicide law. It is limited to someone with a disease with a short life expectancy. Most suicides are for other reasons, that we have placed in a context of mental illness. Yet it's not always so. If someone's grief over loss of a loved one is enduring, if their life isn't worth living, our society does not acknowledge self "deliverance" as one's inherent right. So, the action must be violent, with no moral support available at all.
I don't want to simplify or trivialize this complex question, but I think it sheds light on why one would choose death from a police officers gun. If life sucks, if a person feels there is no way out, the cause of the suffering can be put on society, those with power; so in this final act the distressed person can confront such power. The last moment of existence will be participation in a drama where he is the star, the focus of attention, the protagonist that he for once will never have any regrets for the path taken.