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You must know that the SWAT team didn't know they were part of a hoax. If there actually had been an armed hostage-taker then I doubt that many people would be saying that shooting him with rubber bullets was illegitimate.

Having said that: 15 of the 17 top-level comments on this thread are explicitly critical of the police in this situation, so I don't know how you you're getting the impression that we aren't allowed to hold them accountable.

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"Officers reportedly ignored his father, Tom, and his cousin telling them there was no hostage situation and that the so-called hostage taker was actually asleep."

Of course, it's hard to judge without knowing the whole situation, but this all (military) approach of "shooting first, ask questions later" is not suitable for a local police imho.

The military typically have rules of engagement that are far more careful than this.

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