Last night three plain-clothes Atlanta police officers broke down the door of a 92-year-old woman. The officers entered the home with a warrant, based on the contention that undercover officers suspected the home was a drug house.

Needless to say, when the officers broke down the door of Kathryn Johnston, they were met by a geriatric armed with a hand gun, who immediately began to fire on what she thought were three intruders. Ms. Johnston wounded all three of the officers who promptly returned fire, killing the woman.

The police and the district attorney argue that Ms. Johnston’s death, while tragic, was justified on the grounds that undercover officers had purchased drugs from the home earlier in the day, a charge refuted by Ms. Johnston’s family.

These are the consequences of an ill conceived drug war that allows local police to employ Gestapo style tactics to gun down innocent old women without cause. Is it justified to enter a person’s home by force, without so much as a “this is the police” and not expect the residents of said home to be alarmed perhaps even armed?

Wouldn’t an ordinary citizen be justified in firing on an intruder who entered their home by force? The war on drugs has led to countless billions being thrown down a rat hole and now police consider themselves justified in killing old women, with no recourse.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2006/11/22/1123metshot.html