What a tragedy! I have the deepest sympathy for his parents, family, friends, and patients--and for the officer who shot him. I am sure that the officer is traumatized.

Accidents happen. The question to be answered: How did this one happen and could it have been prevented?

There's a deeper lesson to be learned here, though. Don't break the law. The outcome could be worse than you think.

I have all the sympathy for his parents, family, and friends, but I have ZERO sympathy for the officer. Don't point guns at people unless you are willing to live with the consequences of the person dying. This guy was a suspected BOOKIE--nothing more. No history of violence, not guns, no nothing. No reason for Fairfax police to engaged in the same tactics as if they had found Osama bin Laden living in Fairfax.

Fairfax County Police Department should be ashamed. Using SWAT teams to serve every warrants is reckless. Too bad Salvatore J. Culosi found out too late.

If a 17-year veteran of the SWAT team is charging an unarmed suspect with his finger on the trigger, pointed at a suspect's chest, then it's not only his fault, it's the fault of the department SWAT supervisors who trained him to operate this way for who knows how long. Someone needs to (at least) lose their job, and not just the officer who fired the shot.

It's probably not smart to second guess the decision to use a SWAT team in this case, though. This was basically organized crime, and who can say which bookie is going to be armed and dangerous and which one isn't. It's the tactical training that failed here IMO.

When did officer safety trump citizen safety?

I disagree with Rob on the SWAT use in this case, unless the FCPD is able to produce tangible evidence which would lead them to conclude there was a potential for violence. So far, they have not. I think that more than just the 'tactical training' failed here. This is evidence of very poor leadership and accountability. Chief Rohr has been on TV advancing the 'tragic accident' propaganda already.

Fairfax county needs a house cleaning, starting at the top.

Good discussion with cops on this issue here: http://warrencountyreport.com

Clearly the police had a valid reason to be investigating the victim, however it does not justify or excuse the shooting of an unarmed, non-violent citizen of Fairfax County. While police officers put their lives on the line every day to protect the community, they are also trained that they are responsible for each bullet in their weapon. This type of incident should have been avoidable. Basic firearm training teaches that you never aim and have your finger on the trigger of a weapon unless you intend to fire. I am confident that the officer involved is devastaed. It is a true tragedy for all parties involved.

Dan, thanks for directing us to the Warren County site. The responders there were a lot less judgemental than those who have written here.

There were two points that stuck out for me.

1. No one, not even the victim's father, has all the facts. We shouldn't jump to damning conclusions without facts.
2. The Fairfax County Police Chief immediately acknowledged the error as an accident. No cover-ups, no bureaucratic fumbling--just flat-out truth.

So, where does the County go from here? I hope the Post will do a follow up.

Response:

It couldn't have been an accident;
An unexpecteed and undesirable event;
An unforseen incident - from dictionary.com. Use of the word accident in this circumstance is propaganda, and untruthful. It was negligence, plain and simple.

Cars don't accelerate absent some physical input from an operator. Baseball bats and machetes don't swing themselves, and guns don't just go off. For this event to have happened, the shooter had to be pointing the gun at the victim, and had to have his finger on the trigger, pulling it at the same time. Just exactly how would this qualify as an "unforseeable" event?

The Fairfax PD did something that few departments would by quickly admitting their fault. Why run a propaganda campaign? To what purpose? They have willingly opened themselves up to public criticism and made a law suit almost impossible to defend against. They easily could have hidden behind their need to investigate the incident to put off making their statement or even deny their fault.

Cars, bats, machetes, and guns don't work by themselves. They are made to be used by people, who are fallible and do make mistakes. Whatever bad decision the officer involved made, I still feel bad that he will have to endure this tragedy.

Local, I feel bad for the officer, and department, but I don't feel bad enough that the shooter shouldn't be prosecuted for the homicide. I'll bet the family of the victim feels a whole lot worse. My point here is that news accounts, and FCPD have been attempting to "color this" in a light which will give the impression that this incident was somehow 'excusable' as a mistake. It's not. Even the Tactical officers quoted in the article point this out. My point here is if you accept that this is somehow a 'tragic mistake', then you are paving the way for it to happen to yourself or a member of your family. Actions have consequences - or at least they are supposed to. This is a homicide that we would not excuse for a member of MS13, and it should not be excused for a member of FCPD.

I hope you never cause an accident that hurts someone. Using your logic, if you are driving too fast, hit someone and hurt them, you are negligent. If you back up and tragically run over your kid (or someone else's kid), you have committed a crime.

Comparing a Fairfax County police officer to a member of MS13 in inexcusable, insensitive, and just plain stupid.

Resident,
Please don't mistake that I only feel bad for the officer. To lose a family member in such a way is something I hope I'll never be able to say I understand. From other events like this I've looked up, I am sure the officer will be prosecuted, and possibly for homicide. But homicide requires intent, and I hope the court sees that. Reckless endagerment or manslaughter seems more fitting unless there is something about this we don't know yet.

And To resident, what you describe should be punished as crimes. Mistakes that take someones life seem bad enough to be crimes. The courts should just recognize that you did not mean to kill someone and reflect that in lighter punishment.

Police have a difficult job. They experience the lowest common denominator that America has to offer. However, IF the officer that killed Sal had his gun pointed at his feet ready to rise and fire if engaged, Sal would still be here today. I understand the officers needing to have coverage, but the issue is why were guns pointing at his chest the entire time. That, I will never understand.

As a footnote, I've known Sal since first grade, he was (I still can't believe I'm using past tense) the most nonviolent person you want to know and helped so many people. He could have easily had a high profile practice, but purposely opened the stores in Wal-Mart's to help people he felt needed affordable eye care. The loss permeates far beyond simply the family and friends.

It's always best to have overwhelming force standing by in case they're needed. Using a swat team not only produces a clear advantage as far as firepower but it also has a psychological advantage. The decision to use them was not wrong. What was wrong was having untrained people on the team that aren't capable of doing what's needed under pressure because he's never been in a real combat situation and no amount of training can be substituted for experience. Swat officers should be selected on past things they've done such as real world military experience first hand not based on who's been in the department longer or who's more popular.