New Zealand Man Decided To Draw A Line In The Sand

New Zealand police say alleged gunman dead

"WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A standoff between a well-armed military reservist and dozens of police that shut down part of a New Zealand city for nearly three days ended Saturday when the gunman was found dead in his house.
It was not immediately clear what killed Jan Molenaar, who is accused of opening fire on a group of police who came to his house Thursday to look for suspected drugs. One officer was killed and three other people badly wounded.
Police had said for days they were willing to wait out Molenaar — whom they said repeatedly sprayed gunfire at them — rather than raid the house in Napier city. Hundreds of people from surrounding homes, schools and businesses were evacuated as a precaution.
But as the standoff entered its third day on Saturday, Superintendent Sam Hoyle said officers used explosives to blow a hole in the house's ground floor to see inside and to destroy any booby traps.
Police still had no view of the master bedroom where Molenaar had barricaded himself, he said. When they finally entered the house, Molenaar was dead, Hoyle said.
Police had earlier called in friends of Molenaar, 51, to help them negotiate an end to the standoff but without success. Gunfire erupted periodically from the house, apparently directed at the police outside.
There was no indication that Molenaar made any demands and he reportedly told friends at one point that he would rather die than be sent to prison.
Hoyle said he was not able to comment on how or when the gunman died, though police said earlier they did not shoot at the man.
Hoyle told reporters police had located explosives in the house and would maintain extensive cordons for some time.
"Explosives experts are assisting us to make sure the house is safe," he said, adding that residents would continue to be kept away from the area.
Molenaar became enraged Thursday when he arrived home to find police in his house conducting a drug raid. According to police, he fired a fusillade of shots from an automatic rifle, killing one officer and seriously wounding two others. A bystander who tried to wrestle the gun away from Molenaar was also shot.
It was unclear why the bystander was at the property or whether the attack happened inside or outside the house.
One police officer died beside his car outside the property, but volleys of gunshots from the house blocked police attempts to retrieve his body until Friday night.
Hoyle said that only two shots were fired by police during the siege, and all other gunfire had come from Molenaar, who allegedly fired on police "dozens of times."
One of two wounded police officers and the civilian remained in critical condition, while the second wounded officer was stable, Napier Hospital said.
Late Friday night, police also rescued "very much alive" a police dog, named Fi, that had been trapped inside a police van since the shooting began, police said in a statement."

There is much wrong about this story on many levels.

First it's delivered in basic journospeak, a supposedly impartial delivery but characterized by one glaring consistancy - the authors are basically stenographers for the police. No background, no eyewitness interviews, no research.

It's a sensational story because of the deaths and injuries and because cops were shot it will always have sympathy for them from corporate media. Followup pieces will undoubtedly let us know all about their conditions, family concerns and we'll get plenty of flowery phrases from mucky mucks praising their actions.

But it's their actions that sparked this crap. Not one word in this article referenced if the cops actually found what they violated his privacy for - just some pot, once again instigating an unnecessary and stupid confrontation over an organic substance that should never have been illegal in the first place. And also will never be legalized because it's too useful to the fascists as an excuse to exercise and broaden their power.
Notice the second paragraph - they "came" to his house to "look" for suspected drugs. Substitute "broke in" and "ransacked" and then ask yourself how you would have felt if this had been your home.

It's standard fare for fascist mentalities to magnify supposed enemies and their crimes to justify official retaliation, and it's always retaliation and never instigation, although they haven't been satisfied with that in recent years so preemptive violence is in vogue. In this case the guy is immediately villainized and his crimes are exaggerated. Now they say there were explosives in the house, "they" being police of course. His weapon is labeled automatic to make it seem like a machine gun although it's most probably a semi automatic, one shot per trigger pull. What's pretty obvious is that the cops picked on someone who wasn't about to take police state bullshit anymore and suddenly found that out the hard way.
As soon as true resistance is met the fascist template takes over. Whole neighborhoods are evacuated because of that (probably bullshit) explosives claim. Because he dared resist the police state he's turned into a monster. Numerous swat ninja teams swarm in, they send in a tank for jeebus sake. Just like the Branch Davidian slaughter at that point the guy was a dead man no matter what, so they blew a hole in the side of the house and stormed in.

At the culmination of events like this the story will be spun whatever way the fascists want it to go, so resisters' deaths can be told either way. The Davidians committed suicide because they were lunatics, some others will be killed as a demonstration of the state's power. But just like in all of those staged mass shootings of recent years you can bet the farm that this shooting-back-at-the-cops story will throw fresh meat to the gun control crowd and you bet, here it is.
Funny how gun debates don't flare up when cops murder civilians.