Suspect Dead After Shootout with Police over Stolen Milk

A 20-year-old man died after allegedly stealing milk Monday night then shooting at the officers who responded to reports of the theft.

Officers believe the man, Michael John Stout, was using a gun he stole from a car earlier in the day.

The Arizona Republic reports that two officers approached a Peoria, Arizona, Walmart after the theft was reported, only to take gunfire. One of the officers returned fire from outside his police vehicle and the second returned fire by shooting through his windshield.

This headline represents one of my pet peeves. I find it fundamentally dishonest. It is a theme that the MSM seems to love. A variation on the theme is: “Man sentenced to 20 years for stealing a candy bar.” Headlines are designed to grab the reader’s attention and cause them to buy the paper. The problem is that there are just so many budgies and puppies in the world. That means no poop, no reason to buy the paper. Most people who never read the story are left with a misleading impression.

Now here is the perfect headline:

Here is the real story. The police responded to a shoplifter call. As they arrived at the scene, the suspect opened fire on the officers. The officers returned fire and killed the suspect. That’s just a tad different than shooting a guy for shoplifting milk.

When the suspect stole the milk, he set off a chain of events. Had he left it at that the officers would have arrested him for a low level misdemeanor. But he chose to escalate the incident. Earlier in the day he burglarized a car and stole a gun. When he saw the officers, the suspect fired upon them. Look at the photo of the police car. See any spilled milk? 

When the soon to be deceased pulled the gun this stopped being a shoplifter call. It became a shoot out between a suspect bent on murder and the responding officers. The right guy ended up DRT (dead right there).