DailyTech - Deputy Shoots and Kills Suspected PS3 Robber

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Blog: Gadgets Deputy Shoots and Kills Suspected PS3 Robber
Brandon Hill (Blog) - December 3, 2006 11:05 AM

39 comment(s) - last by timmiser.. on Dec 8 at 1:59 PM

Michael Rhoton boards up the door to his apartment the day after the shooting -- Image courtesy StarNewsOnline

Robbery suspect and his dog are gunned down in Wilmington, NC

The PlayStation 3 frenzy took a deadly turn this past Friday when a sheriff's deputy for New Hanover County (NC) shot and killed a man suspected of robbing a UNCW student of two of the consoles. The shooting and the circumstances surrounding it have left many in the area puzzled.

The story began on November 17: the US launch date of the highly anticipated PS3 console. On that day, UNCW student Justin Raines purchased two PS3 consoles from Wal-mart along with a few games. When Raines arrived back at his on-campus apartment, he was attacked with a blunt object by two men and his prized merchandise was stolen.

Officers reviewed surveillance camera footage from the Wal-Mart and investigated several leads given to them. After the invesigation, the decision was made to serve Peyton Strickland and Ryan David Mills with arrest warrants on charges of breaking and entering, robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.

When sheriff's deputies arrived at 533 Long Leaf Acres Drive to serve Strickland with an arrest warrant, Strickland was playing a round of Tiger Woods PGA Tour on his recently acquired PS3. The officers knocked on the door; Strickland walked to the door with controller in hand and opened it. "There was a bunch of yelling," said Mike Rhoton, a roommate of Strickland. "Four or five shots went off and they killed him. They pinned me down to the ground and told me not to move anything."

There were three guns found in Strickland’s room, but none were used in the incident. Even more puzzling is the fact that police officers also shot and killed Blaze, Strickland's German shepherd.

The District Attorney's Office along with the UNCW police department and Hanover Country Sherriff’s department are investigating the incident. "I am making this my top priority. No one's above the law. If there's any criminal conduct that can be established, I'm not going to hesitate to treat them as any other defendant," said New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David.

According to the StarNewsOnline, Strickland was the youngest of three children and his father is a high-profile lawyer in the Raleigh-Durham (RDU) area.

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Oh well

By 05SilverGT on 12/4/06, Rating: 0

RE: Oh well

By Vokus on 12/4/2006 4:01:23 PM , Rating: 3

Every one here seems like a human life is worth alot less the a PS3, they hang that cop.

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RE: Oh well

By 05SilverGT on 12/4/06, Rating: 0

RE: Oh well

By cochy on 12/4/2006 5:46:42 PM , Rating: 2

He's not missing the point. Civilized societies do not execute people for stealing! I do not think a SIXAXIS can be confused for a weapon, this idiot cop better have justice served to him.

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RE: Oh well

By jmn2519 on 12/5/2006 10:23:54 AM , Rating: 2

Nevertheless, if you are willing to commit a felony you are putting your life in jeopardy. If you (and your german shepard) assault a police officer you are putting your life in jeopardy. Accidental shootings are the risk you take when you break the law.

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RE: Oh well

By Freerider1234 on 12/4/06, Rating: -1

RE: Oh well

By 05SilverGT on 12/4/2006 10:19:35 PM , Rating: 3

First of all the cussing is uncalled for. If that is how you want to make a point you probably don’t have much of one to begin with. Now I’m going to make it very clear once again for everyone to understand. HAD HE NOT STOLEN THE PS3, WITH A BLUNT WEAPON HENCE MAKING HIM A POSSIBLE ARMED THREAT THE COPS NEVER WOULD HAVE BEEN AT THIS HOUSE. THIS NEVER WOULD HAVE HAPPENED, THERE WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN A MISTAKE AND HIM BEING SHOT. BOTTOM LINE IS MR. STRICKLAND CREATED THE ROOT OF THE SITUATION BUT EVERYONE ALWAYS WANTS TO BLAME SOMEONE ELSE. It’s sorry to see anyone die looking at this in hindsight but since nobody knows all the details yet lets lay off the cops for now. THEY WERE JUST GOING TO ARREST HIS ASS FOR BEATING A KID WITH A BLUNT OBJECT AND STEALING HIS PS3! How hard is this to see.

Steal PS3+Cops=Accident
Don’t Steal PS3+No Cops=Still Alive

It all goes back to the root.

Tiger Tiger Woods Yall!

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RE: Oh well

By jarman on 12/5/06, Rating: 0

RE: Oh well

By cochy on 12/5/2006 3:27:05 AM , Rating: 2

Actually he did have a point. The root problem isn't the theft. Go back further than that. If it was truly and accident, then the problem is idiotic police officers. This is much more serious problem. Accidents like these should not happen. A blunt object does not qualify a suspect as "armed and dangerous". A routine arrest warrant of an unarmed teenager should not ever result in a murder, and when the police start killing unarmed civilians you can bet the local community will be shaken up by it. I hope the DA owns this cops ass.

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RE: Oh well

By 7DrFunk7 on 12/5/2006 7:49:12 AM , Rating: 2

First of all you guys make it sound like the cop wanted to shoot the kid, also nobody knows all the details of the story.

Lets say your in the cops shoes, you knock on the door of the kids house who you might think robbed some one with an deadly weapon. The kid comes to the door with the PS3 controller that could easliy be mistaken as a gun.

Or maybe his dog attacked the cops, I dont know. And the only people who do are the cops.

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RE: Oh well

By realitycheck on 12/5/2006 6:21:27 PM , Rating: 2

ok dumbass, beating someone with a blunt object does in fact qualify as considered armed and dangerous. hence the warrant for assault with a DEADLY weapon, secondly they found guns in his room, guess what, hes a suspected violent felon, and he owns guns, that too makes him armed and dangerous, you play with fire you gt burned. lifes a bitch

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RE: Oh well

By 224466 on 12/6/2006 10:24:01 AM , Rating: 2

"Actually he did have a point"
"A routine arrest warrant of an unarmed teenager..."

For cops there is no such thing as a routine arrest.

Hell we just had a cop KILLED here were I live because a cop was only doing a "routine" pullover of a speeding teen. Yup a dead cop because a punk teen didn't want a speeding ticket. I'm sorry but I have no sympathy for criminals. You break the the law you get what you deserve.

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RE: Oh well

By spluurfg on 12/6/2006 10:21:52 AM , Rating: 2

Do you understand anything about the way the law works? They were going to arrest him on charges, yes, but that does not automatically mean he was guilty. Suppose they had the wrong guy and the police killed him for nothing? It is for this reason that it is the obligation of the police to use only the necessary amount of force.

This is not to say that the Police don't have the right to defend themselves, but throughout the article it didn't appear that they made any statement explaining why the use of deadly force was necessary.

You say 'if he never had robbed the guy, they never would have been at his house'. Right. And the police are always perfect? They've shown up at the WRONG ADDRESS before on warrants. If they accidentally arrived at your house, or if you were implicated by mistake, wouldn't you want the police to exercise as much restraint as possible?

You wrote:

Steal PS3+Cops=Accident
Don’t Steal PS3+No Cops=Still Alive

How about this:

Steal PS3 + Cops don't shoot unarmed man = alive
Don't steal ps3 + cops don't shoot unarmed man = alive

Get my logic? Even if the guy was clearly the man responsible for the theft, that does not place the police above the due course of the law. According to the witness, the police did not announce their presence, nor did they produce a warrant -- they simpy knocked the door down. For this reason an investigation sounds prudent.

I hope you take some effort to learn more about the justice system and civil rights.

BTW if you were being sarcastic I didn't really pick it up... I hope you are, anyway.

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RE: Oh well

By Moishe on 12/5/2006 7:59:03 AM , Rating: 3

This shouldn't have happened, we can all agree with that. But let's not get stupid and call it "execution". This was probably something as simple as an accident. The stupid guy stole the PS3 and started the chain of events so you cannot very well just dismiss that. It's ultimately his action that started it. His German Shepherd was there and I know how cops get wary around those.

The cop needs to be heavily reprimanded/fired/a$$ reamed/whatever because it's absurd to have a cop with his gun drawn in an arrest of a petty thief. If they're so worried about the guy being dangerous there should have been backup.

On the other hand, in our modern world of plentiful idiots, cops routinely need to use force to subdue fools who don't submit. Cops are always getting shot at and threatened and have to be able to defend and protect. Hopefully they've been trained well enough so that they don't go shooting prematurely. Whenever I encounter a cop, I pretty much stay out of their way and say "yes sir" a lot. It pays to be prudent because no amount of explaining or apologizing can fix death.

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RE: Oh well

By THEREALJMAN73 on 12/6/2006 10:09:16 AM , Rating: 1

Judging by how the PS3 was obtained it's obvious these guys are violent crimals. The police officer I am sure did not go in guns-a-blazing. He probably was placed in a very threatening position and did what he had to do to stay alive. While this is speculation on my part - I know many police officers and not one of them looks forward to drawing their weapon let alone fireing it.

As to these kids having the rest of their lives in front of them - yeah a life of stealing, violence and being scumbags... what a life... Better for everyone they are gone now.

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RE: Oh well

By tacorly on 12/6/2006 3:27:53 PM , Rating: 1

Who cares? We don't need every fuckup to "turn around" and "become a better person." We have plenty of people that DON'T steal as is.

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Missing the Point

By vanka on 12/4/2006 7:46:29 PM , Rating: 5

Everyone here seems to have already decided that the kid was guilty and completely ignoring that we know very little of what happened. All we know was that the cops went to this kid's place to serve arrest warrants and now the kid is dead. No court pronounced him guilty, but most posts are gleeful that he "got what was coming to him".

Now I actually support the death penalty in certain cases (like for mass murderers and the like); but here we have a dead kid. Someone who was only beginning his life. Now he may have stolen the PS3s, but that does not mean that he deserved to die or that we should be happy that he's dead. The punishment certainly does not fit the crime. Many are forgetting that a human life was ended; something that is infinitely more valuable than even 200 PS3s. Remember that somewhere a family lost a son.

Many are saying that if he hadn't stolen the PS3s this wouldn't have happened. This is a good point but misleading; we don't know yet if he had stolen them in the first place. The police have made mistakes before. I don't want to place blame neither on the kid nor on the police because I don't have all the facts. We don't know if the kid stole the PS3s; we don't know how the confrontation with the police actually went down; so until we know all the facts we should refrain from making any conclusions. Once we find out what actually happened we can start talking about who deserves what. If the kid did steal the PS3s, well I guess he already paid for it. If the cop handled the arrest incorrectly (or possibly criminally), throw the book at him. But at this point all I see is a kid with unknown potential is dead over some stupid video game.

RE: Missing the Point

By msva124 on 12/4/2006 8:37:37 PM , Rating: 2

What I'm wondering is why they had guns drawn for a simple theft warrant? It seems like they would just need to knock on the door and ask him to come out. This is not rape or murder were talking about here, the guy stole a PS3.

Then again I don't know what happened, so I can't judge.

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RE: Missing the Point

By Motley on 12/5/2006 3:21:51 AM , Rating: 2

Not theft. Armed robbery with guns on the premesis.

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RE: Missing the Point

By Moishe on 12/5/2006 8:04:06 AM , Rating: 2

The cop was probably already on edge expecting an armed man. I know if I was a cop and going to arrest someone who committed armed robbery, I'd be pretty edgy because I don't want to die for some stupid Sony machine. And don't forget the german shepherd... Those dogs are great dogs but they have a reputation for being mean. The cop could have told him to put down the controller (black, small, handheld) and to restrain the dog... it could get out of control easy especially if the PS3 thief cursed at the cop or reacted wrongly.

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RE: Missing the Point

By 05SilverGT on 12/5/2006 2:07:51 PM , Rating: 2

Apparently Mr. Strickland has a variety of photos of him along with others showing off their guns that the police happened to see before going on the arrest. I know if there were pictures of me on the net holding firearms and I committed a robbery I’d expect the cops to have their weapons ready as well.

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RE: Missing the Point

By Scorpion on 12/6/2006 12:35:14 PM , Rating: 3

I was starting to wonder if anyone here had any sense, or brains, whatsoever. It's good to see someone who actually understands how a civilized country works.

There is a lot of speculation floating around, and we just don't know what actually happened.
1. People assume the kid was guilty. This was never proven in a court of law.
2. If the kid was guilty, death is an extreme punishment for theft, unless he killed someone during the act. While I agree he's a complete peice of human waste if he did beat up someone with a blunt object over a PS3, death isn't the right punishment.
3. We don't know why the cop shot him. If the cop was threatened or felt a fear for his life then I believe his actions of self-defense are justified. If the kid did not pose a lethal threat to the cop then his actions are completely unjustified and he should be punished. The fact remains that we don't know exactly what happened in that moment.

A cop who kills a non-life threatening suspect is as bad, if not worse, as a "petty" theif who attacks someone.

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RE: Missing the Point

By timmiser on 12/6/2006 4:07:34 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
But at this point all I see is a kid with unknown potential is dead over some stupid video game.

I see a kid with the "potential" to have committed a lifetime of violent crimes now is dead and off the street for good.

This was not a petty crime, this was the work of a well established violent criminal.

He stalked, he premeditated, he used extreme violence, all to get a video game. Just think what this gun possesing guy might have done in the future to get something that he really wanted.

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That Strickland...

By Aikouka on 12/4/2006 8:29:45 AM , Rating: 3

Maybe he aggrivated the cops by calling them slackers and slapping them upside the head with a rolled up newspaper :P.

RE: That Strickland...

By Krashnicki on 12/4/2006 11:31:27 PM , Rating: 2

Is that a Back to the Future reference? lol

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RE: That Strickland...

By Aikouka on 12/5/2006 8:40:30 AM , Rating: 2

Yes :P

It's my favorite series of all time. I still have the series on VHS including the special tape, model kit versions of all 3 Deloreans, an RC Delorean and a special book on Back to the Future.

So yeah... reading the name Strickland was all but guaranteed to make me think of that.

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RE: That Strickland...

By TellindaTroof on 12/5/2006 1:29:27 PM , Rating: 3

This is another great story of a scumbag getting what he deserves.

An innocent young man was beaten savagely over his property. These thugs had no regard for the life of this young man and could have easily killed him over a Playstation 3.

I couldn't care less that he 'had his whole life' in front of him. He'll never beat or rob another innocent person again. This worthless piece of human debris is deservedly Tango Uniform.

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Who wants to go arrest this suspect?

By timmiser on 12/6/2006 4:01:56 PM , Rating: 2

Anytime a police officer shows up at an address to arrest somebody and take them off to jail, the police officer is very much on edge and rightly so. Not every suspect willingly sticks their wrists out and say "cuff me", some don't take it too well especially if they know they are guilty they may already know they may not be seeing freedom again for many years. Police know this and they know that anybody and everybody will react differently, sometimes regardless of the cost.

But as other posters mentioned, these guys were violent suspects, they had an assortment of guns on the premises, and most importantly, they appeared to have the stolen goods in their possession so there was little deniability.

RE: Who wants to go arrest this suspect?

By peternelson on 12/7/2006 2:23:13 AM , Rating: 2

They had cctv from the store, and the guy could ID them from the attack.

Clearly they had already used violence.

Instead of sticking hands up in surrender, or lying down on the ground, or sticking hands out for cuffing, the offender starts shouting at the cop.

He has a large dog which could be used as a weapon.

If he shouted "Go Fido, Kill" the cop may have had to shoot the dog in self defence. The guy would then be mad at the cop for shooting his pet and lunge forward to avenge. Since he has an object which could be mistaken for a weapon (or may have reached for a knife or gun) the cop can be forgiven for making a snap judgement and shooting him.

This scum wastes police time and causes sadness to his victim. Further there now needs an investigation/lawyers etc. Citizens have to pay for all this with taxes.

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RE: Who wants to go arrest this suspect?

By peternelson on 12/7/2006 2:26:54 AM , Rating: 2

I just feel sorry for the poor dog,
who was completely innocent.

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RE: Who wants to go arrest this suspect?

By timmiser on 12/8/2006 1:59:47 PM , Rating: 2

Amen to that!

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You don't know

By glennpratt on 12/6/2006 4:51:11 PM , Rating: 2

Seems to me, none of you know what happened, and thus shouldn't make a judgement.

Yes, anytime you commit a felony, you are taking your life into your own hands. And yes, a teenager with nothing more then a warrant against him shouldn't be shot and killed be the police without serious provocations.

But we don't know what happened and everything else is useless. People saying petty theft rightfully results in death! Or saying they hope the DA 'own this cops ass' or some such! What the *#&@ do you know?

Not tech news

By ghost101 on 12/3/06, Rating: -1

RE: Not tech news

By ghost101 on 12/3/06, Rating: -1

RE: Not tech news

By The Sword 88 on 12/3/2006 6:39:43 PM , Rating: 5

I thought it was interesting

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RE: Not tech news

By othercents on 12/4/2006 12:33:55 PM , Rating: 3

I actually think this is a very good article especially since anyone who purchased a PS3, thought about purchasing a PS3, or laughed at those people sitting outside waiting to purchase a PS3 would have known about the PS3 thefts that happened. I wonder if they police thought the controller was a gun?

Other

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RE: Not tech news

By Master Kenobi

(blog) on 12/4/2006 2:14:33 PM , Rating: 3

Regardless, he was a criminal. Armed Robbery, Assault with a Deadly Weapon, were not talking petty theft here. Maybe his lawyer of a father needs to take better care of his kid if hes resorting to stealing from other people.

No sympathy from me, he deserved what he got.

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