Why have we become a "shoot first and ask questions later - if anyone is still alive" nation?

Georgia Cop Shoots, Kills Teen Who Was Holding Up a Wii Controller (Click on this link to view the original post)

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A 17-year-old Georgia JROTC student was fatally shot in his home last Friday by a law enforcement officer who mistook his Nintendo video game controller for a weapon, according to a lawyer for the boy's family.
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The local officer who shot him was looking for the boy's father in the small town between Atlanta and Chattanooga, according to Atlanta's WSB-TV:
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    Christopher Roupe, 17, was in the ROTC at Woodland High School and wanted to join the Marines... Roupe's young life ended Friday night when Euharlee police officers showed up at the door of his home in the Eagle View Mobile Home Park to serve a probation violation warrant for his father.

    A female police officer told GBI investigators that Roupe pointed a gun at her when he opened the door.

    "It just doesn't add up," said Cole Law who is representing the Roupe family.

    Law said Roupe was about to watch a movie.

    "We don't know where that statement came from. The eyewitnesses on the scene clearly state that he had a Wii controller in his hand. He heard a knock at the door. He asked who it was, there was no response so he opened the door and upon opening the door he was immediately shot in the chest," Law said.

The officer, who was placed on leave pending a state-level investigation, was immediately remorseful, according to Ken Yates, a neighbor of the Roupes: "She came out of this house," he said. "She put her head in her hands and she was sobbing."