That is NOT a situation for the application of less lethal. You have no idea if that guy was actually trying to shoot/kill the hostages or not. There is no way to judge his intentions just because he's missing. No to mention the fact that, if I didn't know the outcome I would've thought several of those people were hit based on their reactions...especially the first guy that grabs the left side of his chest/arm. Looked like the guy was trying to hit people to me. As soon as he raised his arm just prior to firing I'd say would be the time to start ventilating him.

Frankly, he didn't look that well trained in gun handling/shooting to me based on the way he carried the gun, little muzzle discipline (not that he was really worried about that...but it does speak to training), the way the gun recoiled after he fired, etc...so it doesn't surprise me that he didn't hit anyone.

There is zero chance that a cop is going to wait for him to fire a couple of rounds and say, "Oh...he isn't hitting anyone. Let's whack him with a Taser (or beanbag, or whatever)." Zero chance.

Whoever shot him from behind (or wherever they were) did exactly what he should have done...fire on the guy until he was no longer a threat. When he fired on the last guy on the left it sure as hell looked to me like he was trying to hit him. Personally I think his shooting skills just sucked.

If you look how he reacted after being shot with the first round or two, that really seemed to strengthen his determination to shoot people. He probably wouldn't have reacted any differently had he been whacked with a bean bag. I can't tell how far away the officer that fired was but it appears to be too far for a Taser shot.

No...bubba needed killin'...right then and there.