They shot Bernardo Palacios dead because they felt he was too dangerous to be left alive. They say, if he got around one more corner, he might shoot and kill someone. Or, even more likely, he might at any moment he might shoot one of the officers giving him chase.
There is ample evidence, though, that he had no intention of shooting anyone. The very unfolding of events showed he had multiple opportunities to shoot, but never did. Let's cite four chances that he wasted. Let's look at what happened that night and realize he had four opportunities to shoot, but each time chose not to.
1.) At the motel when he was robbing. He did "pistol whip" one person, but he didn't fire the gun.
2.) As he fled, he could have swung into the Trails night club parking lot, where there were "a ton of people" and shot someone. He didn't.
3.) When Sgt. Schneider arrived, he says Bernardo ran right by him. We don't know whether Bernardo noticed Sgt. Schneider, but it would seem if he were running right by someone in a police uniform, he would have noticed. That would be an opportunity to shoot. He didn't.
4. During the course of the chase, he never turned and shot. Nor did he so much as wildly shoot back over his shoulder as he fled. Officers maintain he pointed the gun at them. It would seem if he did in fact point the gun at them, then that would be the natural moment to pull the trigger. If you are intent on shooting someone, once you point the gun, you pull the trigger. Isn't that the way it goes? He never did. He never shot at the police.
With him wasting four opportunities to shoot, why do we can't we see he showed no intention of shooting the officers?
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