Follow up to the RoPo drama...

Here's some more from the clipper:

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A Rohnert Park man found fatally shot in his Harmony Place home Saturday morning died of a single gunshot wound to the upper left chest, according to preliminary autopsy results.

Sonoma County coroner's Sgt. Mitch Mana said toxicology tests on Roger Hilliard are still pending. Mana said Rohnert Park police, not the coroner's office, will investigate whether the death was suicide or a homicide.

Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety officers went to a residence at 4555 Harmony Place around 1:35 a.m. Saturday regarding a domestic violence call. Hilliard, 71, reportedly was alone in the house, was possibly armed with a handgun and a shot had been fired, police said.

The Sonoma County Sheriff's Department's SWAT unit and bomb squad also responded and used a robot to search the inside of the residence, police said. Hilliard was located and pronounced dead at the scene.

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And here's another link.

Some friends have commented on how the police "mishandled" the situation. I was thinking about it, and it occurred to me that it probably went down like so: someone calls the police to report a domestic disturbance, with shot(s) fired. The police show up, no one answers when they go to the door. The options are to storm the house ala movies/TV, or be safe and actually use all that special crap we as taxpayers have been "investing" in. We *have* a SWAT team and a bomb squad; why not play it safe and send them in?

Of course, the dispatchers apparently did not get that level of training--having us just run from home with no explanation and no place to go was not really the best option, either. There is a fire department just three blocks from my house--they could have pulled the trucks out and let us all hang out there until it was resolved, as they would (hopefully) have done if there was a big emergency. So I wasn't very impressed with the way that side of things was handled. But tactics-wise, I was okay with the other part.

Thanks for all your support and concern!