FREE GUN FRIDAY: GIVEAWAY BERETTA APX 500 ROUNDS AMMO Close (Photo courtesy of iStock Foto) Schizophrenic suicide was a term that refers to the act of involving others in your own self-destruction. The term didn’t necessarily mean that the person who died was schizophrenic. It also did not cause confusion and fell out of favor. This was the time for suicide by cop. RELATED STORY A History of Self Defense Shootings in Times of Widespread Emergency Suicide By Cop. This happened most often with police. The public is well aware that peace officers are equipped with guns and trained to shoot anyone who tries to kill them. They would attempt to kill the officer or convincingly pretend to do so to force them to achieve their goal of ending their own lives. Sometimes, the motive was to leave a financial legacy for their family. They were shocked to learn that police departments have offered large financial settlements for the heirs of those who were shot by police officers for threatening them. These cases involved people who either faked being armed, or were armed using fake weapons. Suicide by Cop was a term that became more popular than schizophrenic suicidal suicide. Two giants in the field of homicide investigation have been credited with the phrase. Clint van Zandt, FBI’s Behavioral Sciences Unit. Vernon Geberth, a former commander of Bronx Homicide Task Force, is the other. He is also the author of the authoritative book Practical Homicide Investigation. It is possible that each of these experienced, wise men could have come up with the term themselves. (Photo by iStock Photo).Case One Three decades ago, I was an expert witness in Case One in the American Midwest. I testified that the fatal shooting in issue was a suicide by cop. The victim was a disturbed man who had become completely alienated from his family and friends by his bizarre behavior. He had completed the “departure ritual”, which was to put his affairs in order, on the night in question. He gave away his beloved dog, the last thing that seemed love him, and then burned all his unpaid bills in an almost sacred fire. He ran outside his house and threatened a newspaper delivery man, who called the police. He attacked two officers and a sergeant with a club when they arrived. The sergeant was then shot to death with his duty Beretta92. The lawsuit against him was won by the sergeant. Later, I was informed that it was the first time suicide by cop defense was allowed in this state. Case 2 The concept is also recognized in other countries. In Case Two, a man attacked his wife using a rolling pin. When the bobbies arrived, he held them back with a gun during a long siege. He shouted at police and then stepped out of the house to fire a gun at them. He was shot by an armed constable and died. He left behind a suicide notice indicating his intent to force the police into killing him. It was the first case of suicide by cop in Britain. Don’t read the above and think, “I’m no cop, so that can never happen to me.” Suicide by Armed Citizen Case Three Texas Case Three was my first suicide by an armed citizen. Two law students had been friends, but their paths diverged. John was the senior partner of a highly successful law firm. However, Bill was suffering from a mental illness that led to repeated failures. John took Bill in for old times’ sake and gave him office space. But Bill’s life continued to spiral downward. Bill asked John to visit him in his private office one evening at an after-work event at the firm. He screamed at Bill and pulled out a Detonics Pocket Nine pistol to point it at him. John pulled out his 9mm pistol, an Astra 600, and fired until Bill fell. The Astra was empty by this time, and Bill was dead. John was charged with murder and sued for wrongful deaths. I represented the defense at both trials. To cut a long story, the shooter was finally released from prison after a lengthy and difficult criminal court battle. The civil trial ended in a verdict for defense. According to reports, this was the first Texas case that allowed a “psychological Autopsy.” This involved a psychologist interviewing those who knew the deceased and studying his known behavior in detail. The psychologist concluded that Bill was paranoid and schizophrenic, and that John was in the grips of a psychotic break at the time he pulled the trigger on John and forced him to shoot him. The shooter should not be held responsible for a ‘bluff’ charge that forced a citizen to kill them. (Photo by iStock photo)Case Four I also spoke on behalf of the defense in Case Four, Florida. A young, troubled man had sex with a young woman. They had been doing drugs together and committing burglary together on his final day on earth. He had repeatedly told her that it was time to end his life. The shop owner, alerted by the burglar alarm, pulled up as they were about to leave the shop they had just burgled. The owner pointed a Ruger revolver at them, and ordered them to stop when they confronted each other. The female frowned, but the male ran at the citizen and reached for his gun. The attack was stopped by three rounds of.357 Magnum, which resulted in the victim being killed. The shop owner was charged with murder by an anti-gun prosecutor. He claimed that he had shot and killed an unarmed man as revenge for his theft. The jury was not able to hear the truth because the defense team presented it to them. Case Five I debriefed Case Five’s armed citizen in Indiana in 2019. The victim was a troubled, large-muscled man. He was a large, muscular man who had been unable to accept responsibility for the death his child. He also suffered from substance abuse and suicidal thoughts. He began to brutally beat his wife on their front lawn the day before. The little girl who was the wife’s daughter tried to stop him using a baseball bat but he began attacking her with the bat. The attacker was stopped by a man walking nearby. He grabbed his 9mm Sig Sauer pistol and ran to her rescue. He held the assailant at gunpoint and allowed the child and wife to flee to safety while his wife called the police. After a brief standoff the assailant charged at the armed citizen. The rescuer fired when he was almost on top of him. The assailant fell to the ground and died. The shooting was so obvious that it was clear-cut defense of self, and others, that no charges were filed and no lawsuit was filed. The authorities declared the armed citizen a hero for saving innocent lives. An armed citizen saved a child and a woman from a homicidal/suicidal male by using a Sig M11. We all want to help suicide-minded people, not harm them. When an armed man kills a non-armed person in situations like Case Four or Case Five, society may mistakenly consider it wrongful death. Remember that suicide is not more or less than inner-directed murder, and that the homicidal impulse may easily be directed outward. Suicidal men attempted to disarm people by pointing guns at them and acting in a state of rage. If they had the gun, each of these men might have killed the good man. Even if the “bluff charge” was used to force the gun-wielding citizen to shoot him, the shooter should not be held responsible. The person who pulls the trigger is not a criminal, whether they are a cop or an armed citizen. Instead, the shooter is a victim. They were literally forced to kill someone they didn’t want. This article was originally published by Combat Handguns May/June 2021. Subscription is available in print and digital editions at OutdoorGroupStore.com. Call 1-800-284-5668 or email [email protected] to sign up for the Personal Defense World newsletter. Sign up for our newsletter I have read and understood the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy and I hereby accept them. Athlon may collect, store, process, and transfer my Personal Data and Non-Personal Data for the purpose of signing me up for our newsletter. Next Springfield Armory XD–M Elite 3.8’’ Compact OSP Updated with.45ACP. The Springfield Armory XD–M Elite 3.8” Compact OSP… by Personal Defense World / December 13, 2021. 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