The shooting occurred last Sunday, as police were pursuing David Kenneth Hamilton, a suspect in the murder of Hamilton's 76-year old former landlord. Hamilton, who was a parolee, was pursued to a motel in Roseville. He refused to comply with commands from police and was shot as he was seen reaching for something in his waistband.
Bee reporter Ryan Lillis' story on the shooting referred to the deputy as "triggerman" - a term associated with a criminal shooting. Lillis also called the location of the shooting a "homicide scene." Check out these two paragraphs":
After David Kenneth Hamilton was killed Sunday, a team of investigators swarmed the Roseville motel parking lot where he was shot and began interviewing the triggerman.
The homicide scene was not unlike dozens of others, except for two important factors: The shooter was a Sacramento County sheriff's deputy, and the dead man was wanted on a murder charge.
From Encarta, here is the definition of triggerman: "somebody who shoots somebody else, usually as part of a gang committing a crime."And the location of the shooting is not a "homicide scene" because there was no homicide.
It doesn't matter if the reporter's intent was to describe the investigative process in any shooting. The words he used implied the deputy may have committed a crime.
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Thanks to reader Dave D. for the tip.
