WWII Reenactor Shot and Killed by Seattle Police

I saw a reprint of this article in today’s local paper and looked it up on the The Seattle Times online. This was obviously a tragic occurrence for all involved. I felt this would be of interest to everyone who reads this blog.

Police kill man dressed as German soldier in U-District

Seattle police shot and killed an armed man dressed in a World War II-era Nazi uniform early this morning in the University District.

By Nick Perry and Emily Heffter

Seattle police shot and killed a University of Washington senior who was dressed in a World War II-era German uniform and who officers say was brandishing a long rifle with a bayonet early Thursday in his University District apartment.

The student, identified by friends as Miles Allen Murphy, was well-known on campus as a smart, eccentric history buff who loved to participate in WWII re-enactments and would even show up to class, at times, dressed in a historic uniform.

Friends said Murphy, 22, would entertain at parties by playing everything from old German folk songs to Britney Spears tunes on his accordion.

Murphy was killed about 2 a.m. Thursday when police responded to neighbors’ complaints that several men were shooting vintage, military-style rifles and shotguns into a dark alley near the 5200 block of 17th Avenue Northeast, police spokesman Jeff Kappel said.

Read the rest of the story

Follow-up articles indicated the rifle was indeed loaded with blanks and that alcohol was involved in the incident. (It really isn’t hard to picture a group of college students drinking on New Year’s Eve.) Obviously alcohol and firearms never mix and in this case, it was fatal in an unusual way. I know that some of you out there do a German impression and that some of you are police officers, so I would like very much to hear your comments on this sad event.

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4 responses to “WWII Reenactor Shot and Killed by Seattle Police”

  1. Mike Avatar
    Mike

    Jim,
    Most of us will have a drink from time to time, and we all play with guns but regardless of your impression or your line of work the two must never mix. I don’t even go swimming when I’ve been drinking. Anyone who knows anything with realize that the first thing that is affected is judgement.
    Police work is stressful. You never know what you are going to come up against. I’ve got respedt for those guys. My time in the service had me at roadside check points on occasion and that was stressful enough.
    We can only speculate as to the events on this night as we were not there. My opinion is you do what you are told or asked to do by the police officer and nobody gets hurt. Better yet, don’t put yourself in that situation.
    We’ve all heard those shots in the middle of the night at events when we’re just hanging out and it leaves you wondering…We can all have a drink and we can all shoot our rifles, etc but let’s just not mix the two.
    Mike

  2. Jim Barnes Avatar
    Jim Barnes

    I agree entirely. This is something we older guys need to really emphasize to the younger crowd. Apparently this kid was a really good guy and well-liked, but he was young and used bad judgement and the result was terrible. How it all went down, we will probably never know, but we certainly don’t want to see something like this happen again, so, I think that us old coots need to pressure the young’uns to follow good safety procedures and be careful.

  3. Chuck Critchfield Avatar
    Chuck Critchfield

    lest we think that this is just some isolated incident, I remember a drunk reenactor at Fayetteville, who got very belligerent after becoming very drunk. An incident that had the parties involved been armed with a sword, a bayonet or worse, it could have been worse.

    I agree with the comments above, guns and alcohol don’t mix.

  4. Jim Barnes Avatar
    Jim Barnes

    Thanks guys. You’re all right on the money. Also, if I hear anything else about this situation, I’ll post it.

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