Elderly Woman Killed; 3 APD Officers Wounded In Shootout:

Three Atlanta police officers were shot and wounded and an elderly woman killed at a house in northwest Atlanta Tuesday night.

The woman, identified by relatives as 92-year old Kathryn Johnston, opened fire on the officers from the narcotics division at a house at 933 Neal Street, according to officials. Authorities say they received a tip of drug activity taking place at the home and officers were headed to the house with a search warrant.

The woman's niece, Sarah Dozier, says that she bought her aunt a gun to protect herself and that her aunt had a permit for the gun. Relatives believe Johnston was frightened by the officers and opened fire.

Her relatives say Johnston had lived in the house for about 17 years.

'They kicked her door down talking about drugs, there's no drugs in that house. And they realize now, they've got the wrong house,' Dozier said. 'I'm mad as hell.' Officials say they had the correct house and that the warrant they had was legal.

Assistant Chief Alan Dreher says the officers had a legal warrant and 'knocked and announced' before they forced open the door. He said they were justified in returning fire when they were fired upon.

Dozier said there were never any drugs at the house. She says her aunt must have panicked when the police forced their way into the home.

She says the officers 'shot her down like a dog.'

Perfectly understandable reaction if you're an elderly person in a rough neighborhood.

And perfectly outrageous that the APD would attempt to justify their actions in this case. You don't gun down 92 year old ladies and then brag that you had the legal right to do so!

Oh, but what if she had a little stash of pot in her house to help with her arthritis pains? Would that make it ok to mow her down like a gansta?

But there weren't even any drugs!

Stand up! Speak out! This madness has to stop!

Update: A little more information to make it worse: The officers allegedly serving the warrant were PLAINCLOTHES! Oh great!

And granny is supposed to know the difference between plainclothes officers and neighborhood thugs busting down her door? Ever heard of "home invasions"? Yeah, we all have, and so had granny I'm sure. That's probably why she was armed in the first place.

As the story comes out, I have no reason to believe she thought she was doing anything but a "righteous shooting". *I* certainly would have shot first, asked questions later if I were in her shoes.

I guess it's all the more reason to practice those headshots and crotch shots.

"No knock" warrants and "Dynamic entry" MUST go the way of the dodo bird, for the sake of officers and innocent civilians alike, not to mention the Constitution!

More background on the problem here

This summer the Cato Institute released a disturbing report entitled Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America. The report found that, "These increasingly frequent raids, 40,000 per year by one estimate, are needlessly subjecting nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and wrongfully targeted civilians to the terror of having their homes invaded while they're sleeping, usually by teams of heavily armed paramilitary unites dressed not as police officers, but as solders. These raids bring unnecessary violence and provocation to nonviolent drug offenders, many of who were guilty of only misdemeanors. The raids terrorize innocents when police mistakenly target the wrong residence. And they have resulted in dozens of needless deaths and injuries, not only of drug offenders, but also of police officers, children, bystanders, and innocent suspects.

Hello? Now is one of those days when I wish I had a wider audience. But fortunately there are a whole lotta people with me in outrage over this incident.

Update 2: Just gotta love those "professionals":

via Cowboy Blob

Update 3: Bane's perspective.

UPDATE FOUR: Another granny caught up in a botched drug raid!!