Police shot and killed a 17-year-old ROTC student this past Friday, and his family is saying that the official account doesn’t match reality.
The Police Department in Euharlee, a small town in northern Georgia, claims that Christopher Roupe pointed a gun at an officer when they knocked on his door to serve a probation violation warrant on his father. According to family and their attorney, all Christopher had in his hand was a Wiimote.
“It just doesn’t add up,” the Roupe family’s attorney Cole Law told WSB-TV Atlanta. “The eyewitnesses on the scene clearly state that he had a Wii controller in his hand. He heard a knock at the door. He asked who it was, there was no response so he opened the door and upon opening the door he was immediately shot in the chest.”
Of course, some Wii accessories are made to look similar to guns.
The officer who shot the teen has been placed on administrative leave.
WSB-TV quotes a neighbor who ran to the home after hearing the shot, and says that Roupe clearly had a Wii Remote in his hand.
Apparently, the officer was “devastated.”
“This is tragic,” said another neighbor. “She came out of this house. She put her head in her hands and she was sobbing. Supposedly, he opened the door with a BB gun and in my opinion I think he was playing a game with his neighborhood buddies.”
The ROTC student was planning on joining the Marines. The family is consulting with their attorney to decide on whether or not to pursue a lawsuit.
On the PD’s website, Chief Terry Harget says that the Euharlee Police Department is “a police organization with a modern, well educated, highly competent staff.” I guess we’ll know more about that assertion as additional facts come to light.
Image via WSB-TV Atlanta, Video