Campus police at California State University San Bernardino shot and killed a graduate student following an altercation Saturday night, authorities said.
Police said officers responded to University Village, an off-campus student dormitory, regarding a disturbance involving Bartholomew Williams, 38.
Williams became aggressive and an altercation with officers followed in the hallway of the dorm, the college said in a statement. Officers then fired their weapons because they feared for their lives, police said.
Williams died at the scene.
One officer was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injury.
Williams was majoring in educational instructional technology, and started at the school in the summer of 2011, police spokesman Sid Robinson said.
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a 38yo living in the dorms????????????????? no wonder why our national debt is surprisingly increasing!!! how much was it subsidized by taxpayers?
Why are they not trained to only use lethal fo ridiculous rce when a suspect has a gun? People have bad days at times. If there was more than one officer, they could have subdued him without killing. If they feel like they have to shoot some then maybe a leg, arm, or shoulder. Thats just ridiculous !
shoot to kill because dead men dont talk. too many lawsuits changed the way cops are trained.
They don't know what he's carrying or how wigged out on whatever. How do they know he won't keep going if they do? Police are not mind readers and have to act within the interests of everyone, and if someone is presenting what trained professionals think is a threat to their life and the lives of others, they have a duty to make a judgment call and stop the threat by whatever means they can.
Cops are in general, are horrible, evil people. They hide behind the badge and get hard at the chance of using their weapons. Most of them join the force just to have the power and get the opportunity to mess with powerless people. Most police officers are the kids that got picked on in high school, so therefore, they take every opportunity to enforce their power.
Campus cops carry guns?
@ Steve – in the mid 1970"s Governor Ronald Reagan of California authorized campus security to carry guns. My friend and I were held at gunpoint about a month later when the parking lot attendant (technically security) wrote my friend a citation for not have his parking lot decal displayed. When my friend asked the man to take another look, the decal was displayed properly, the "officer" drew his gun and held us at gunpoint for "failing to show proper respect". There was nothing disrespectful in anything my friend did that day or any other, and I was actually only a bystander who never said one word in the presence of the officer. The situation was only resolved when a superior officer arrived and called the guy off – this officer advised us not to report or complain about the incident or there would be "consequences". Neither of us ever did – but it left a sour taste in my mouth for police of any description and I have tried to steer clear of them ever since.
Yeh , Too many people go to college .
Obviously, you didn't.
Always film police! Protect your fellow citizens. Keep their testimony from being the sole evidence in the case.
If you film them on your phone remember to send it to a friend before the officer has a chance to confiscate the phone.
The man attacked a police officer. The police officer has every right to protect himself. If you attack a police officer they are allowed to shoot you. The police are not evil.
I was 32 years old when I was pursuing a Master's degree in Civil Engineering. I was the average age. Several of my fellow students were in their mid-forties. This was in 1991. There is absolutely nothing abnormal about "older" people pursuing college degrees, especially advanced ones. And campus police should not carry guns, Virginia Tech or no.
What happened to using taser?
Afraid for their lives? Most cops are ex-military and trained for the worst conditions. Maybe they should be mall cops where conditions are easier.
A good journalist would report what the student did that caused officers to fear for their lives. Did he have a gun, baton, sword? Or if the police refused to say then report that.
Shocking. No matter how one looks at it.
These officers need to be trained in non lethal weapons. These shootings are becoming all too common.
actually they are less common yet more frequently reported by the media thanks to our ADD citizens and our addiction to the 24-hour news cycle.
On the surface, this looks like a bad shooting. Certainly in this day, Campus police have had experience in subduing unruly and violent students without killing them. Now the officer who was hurt in the altercation was a woman ( which really has no bearing on this case) However, her partner may have felt she was in grave danger and the use of non-lethal force could not neutralize the situation. Only when the facts come out will we understand how the two officers got in an indefensible position against an unarmed aggressor!
Six sentences does not an article make.
Most of the comments think it seems more like murder. Problem, is too many police officers with nothing to do. And they are paranoid too.
There was a student killed by campus police at the University of South Alabama a couple months ago. He was about 5' 7 140 lbs, and naked, tripping on acid, banging on the campus police station windows. He was acting erratic, according to reports by police, but he was unarmed. Without knowing the details of this campus shooting in San Bernardino it's hard to know what was going on...and maybe the guy would have settled down eventually by himself. He seemed to have a promising future. But one thing for sure....there are good cops and there are bad cops....just like any other profession. And there are many cops that use brutal force way too quickly. And just because someone is unarmed doesn't mean they can't be deadly. But taking someone's life as a solution seems far too common in this country. Very sad.