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Arizona Cops Kill Man on Business Trip Showing Pellet Gun to Others in Hotel Room (Updated)

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An Arizona police officer shot and killed a man Sunday night 
after responding to a report of a man pointing a rifle out a 
fifth-floor hotel window.

Turns out, the man was only holding a pellet gun that he used 
for his job in pest control.

And it’s not even clear if the man Mesa police shot and killed 
was the man holding the pellet gun. Not that it should matter 
because nobody’s life was in danger.

Police say they only killed Daniel Shaver, a traveling 
businessman from Texas, because he “refused to comply with 
officer commands and reached toward his lower back several 
times,” according to the Arizona Republic.

And usually that’s all it takes for most people to give police 
the thumbs up in the shooting.

But Shaver’s wife, Laney Sweet, posted a heartbreaking Facebook 
description of what likely took place that night.

Her husband, who traveled the country on business, just had 
dinner with a man and a woman at a restaurant when the three of 
them returned to his hotel room.

Shaver was apparently showing them the pellet guns he uses for 
work, at least one which was a rifle. Either Shaver or the man 
was holding the rifle out the window of the hotel room. The kind 
of thing people do when showing each other a gun after ensuring 
it is unloaded, especially in a gun-friendly state like Arizona. 
Probably checking out the scopes on the rifle, oblivious to the 
alarm they were creating.

And somebody got scared and called the cops – many times the 
worst thing anybody can do – and now the man is dead, leaving 
behind a wife and two daughters.

The pellet guns were in a case near the window.

Shaver was killed in the hallway.

Here is the account from the Arizona Republic:

A Mesa police officer shot and killed a man at a La Quinta Inn 
on Sunday night after receiving reports that he was pointing a 
rifle out of the hotel window, officials said.

Two guests in the pool area reported seeing the man point a 
rifle outside the fifth-floor window of his hotel room, located 
near U.S. 60 and Power Road, said Detective Steve Berry, a Mesa 
police spokesman.

Police located the hotel room and commanded the two occupants, a 
man and a woman, to come out, Berry said. The pair exited the 
room, and police detained the woman without struggle.

Berry said the man refused to comply with officer commands and 
reached toward his lower back several times.

“Based on the initial report of the suspect having a gun, not 
complying with commands and reaching behind his body, the 
officer felt threatened and discharged his weapon, striking the 
suspect,” Berry said in a prepared statement.

These are the stories we read every day where we tell ourselves, 
if only he had complied because we know how trigger happy cops 
can get.

But reading his wife’s Facebook post makes this incident much 
more personal because Shaver does not come across as the type of 
person who would deliberately refuse an order from a cop 
pointing a gun at him.

He was a man on a business trip, possibly entertaining clients, 
probably wondering why cops were even at his door in the first 
place.

His wife said 48 hours had passed and police had not notified 
her of her husband’s death. She had to call around to hospitals, 
jails and police stations to eventually find the truth.

Here is her Facebook post:

My beloved husband, Daniel, was shot and passed away the evening 
of Monday, January 18th. All of the details are not clear right 
now but I feel the need to put out what we know as truth and 
allow the rest to unfold through proper investigation– and to 
dispel rumors that have been circulating in the media.

Daniel was traveling for work in Mesa, Arizona. He makes this 
trip 2-3 times a month and frequently services pest removal 
stores there. He carries his work equipment: two pellet guns 
(one approved for flying and one that is not allowed due to an 
air compressor, I believe.) among other things like a pump, ect. 
with him on every trip. Due to how expensive his company’s 
pellet guns are, he takes his hard case into his hotel room 
every night.

Daniel had dinner with two individuals, a man and woman, in the 
evening at a local restaurant. They returned to the hotel and 
went to his room together. I spoke with him on the phone and he 
had also been online and playing a game with a friend. At some 
point, someone near the pool called the local police stating 
that they saw a man with a gun near the window of a 5th floor 
hotel room. Whether Daniel was the one holding it or he allowed 
the other man to view his equipment and look into the scope, we 
don’t know. The man left the room at some point, for what we 
think was a trip to the gas station. Shortly after, three police 
arrived to his hotel room and Daniel and the woman came to the 
door. When asked to step out of the room they both did without 
hesitation. We were told that Daniel was not aggressive but that 
he failed to listen when instructing to NOT put his hands behind 
his back. Due to him putting his hands behind his back, the 
Mesa, AZ police department took forceful action and shot him. 
Daniel passed away in the hallway of his hotel, unarmed. His two 
pellet guns were in and next to his case near the window. It has 
been almost 48 hours and I have yet to be contacted by anyone 
about this matter. No notice of death, nothing. I had to do my 
own investigating after not hearing from him/him not showing up 
to work, that led me to call every hospital, jail and police 
station searching for answers.

Unfortunately, I did finally find him when calling the local 
coroner. No one had the respect or empathy to call me and our 
children and tell us that Daniel had been taken from us. Not 
only that, but not one detective assigned to the case has called 
me back after leaving voice mails seeking answers.

He was my best friend. The love of my life. A son. A brother. 
Many people’s friend. The glue that held me together. He was 
madly in love with his two daughters. He sacrificed being away 
from his family for 25 days a month so he could provide for us, 
in hopes one day we could all be together all the time. Our 
oldest, Natalie (6), is a true daddy’s girl. Anyone who has seen 
them together knows how much they adored each other. Emery will 
be turning four next week. The last time they saw their dad, we 
went to lunch together at Natalie’s school to surprise her 
before he left town. He came home, pushed Emery in the swing for 
awhile and said goodbye. I was upset that he had to go so he 
turned his truck back around and gave me three, sweet and 
meaningful kisses. I am so thankful that is my last memory of us 
together. He always did everything for us to be happy– and 
without his comfort, we are broken and we miss him terribly. My 
girls want their daddy home. I want their tears to stop and for 
their sweet little delicate hearts to have never experienced 
this traumatizing loss.

We are raising money for immediate needs like his 
cremation/memorial service, an attorney to properly investigate 
and for traveling expenses to be with his family during this 
time.

Mesa police are being very tightlipped about this shooting 
because they probably know they screwed up. This habit of 
killing people just because their hands are not visible seems to 
be seized upon my cops every day who are just itching to kill.  
We already know the cop is going to claim he feared for his life.

But did the cop really think Shaver was holding a rifle behind 
his back?

Mesa police do wear body cams, so we’ll see if this incident was 
captured on video.

UPDATE: We initially reported the victim’s name as Daniel Sweet 
because his wife’s name was Laney Sweet and she did not specify 
in her post that his name was Daniel Shaver, nor was she 
responding to requests for interviews. We have since updated the 
article.

https://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/01/Daniel-and-Laney-Sweet-and-family-1.jpg

Daniel Shaver and Laney Sweet with their two daughters. (Photo 
via Laney’s FB page)
      

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Arizona Cops Kill Man on Business Trip Showing Pellet Gun to Others in Hotel Room (Updated) "Cop Nuttery" <cop.nuttery@thanks.obama.com> - 2017-07-22 09:28 +0200

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