(CNN) -- Authorities in Mobile, Alabama, are investigating why a University of South Alabama police officer shot and killed an 18-year-old freshman who they say was naked and acting erratically outside the campus police station early Saturday.

The campus officer heard a loud banging noise on a window at the station at 1:23 a.m. CT (2:23 a.m. ET) Saturday, the university said in a statement. When he left the station to investigate, the school said, "he was confronted by a muscular, nude man who was acting erratically."

The man, later identified as Gilbert Thomas Collar, of Wetumpka, Alabama, repeatedly rushed and verbally challenged the officer in a fighting stance, the school said.

The officer, whose name hasn't been released, drew his weapon and ordered Collar to stop, the school said. The officer retreated several times to try to calm the situation.

"When the individual continued to rush toward the officer in a threatening manner and ignored the officer's repeated commands to stop, the officer fired one shot with his police sidearm, which struck the chest of the assailant," the school statement said. "The individual fell to the ground, but he got up once more and continued to challenge the officer further before collapsing and expiring."
Campus police immediately contacted the district attorney's office to request an external investigation, and the Mobile County Sheriff's Department will assist, the school said.\

The officer has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of internal and external investigations, the school said.
School spokesman Keith Ayers called it a "campus tragedy" for the university family but offered no other details, citing the active investigation.

The University of South Alabama, located in Mobile, enrolls about 15,000 students.

Wetumpka, located just north of Montgomery in the middle of the state, has nearly 8,000 residents.

maybe the Officer remembered that naked Face-Eater from a while back!

Sounds like one too many hits of LSD.

Justice for what? Sounds like the boy had too many drugs and was putting the officer in danger as well....

Solution stay away from the hard drugs and you would not be flipping out putting others in danger... JMO...

shame really

is it absolutely disallowed to shoot to 'wound',,?

especially campus police

Shooting to wound is only in the movies.

The sad fact is when you feel you have to shoot someone it is not like the stand still and say " Here shoot me here right below these vital organs and above the others and oh by the way if you only wound me I won't charge you and take the gun away from you and shoot someone else."

As a professional who carries a weapon you know if you are forced to draw your weapon you are probably going to have kill someone or DIE!

In those moments when you are pleading with someone to stop whatever crazy thing they are doing that you have only seconds to act. You know the results are going to be months if not years of professional review, friends and familoy reviewing it, lawsuits, media harrassment.

As a professional You know you will be living with the results of permanently injuring maybe even killing someone; probably some little kid's parent. You know you are going to see these people in court and not be able to react.

You also know stats say you probably never seeing your kids or your spouse in your later years in life because the stress of an already often crappy job is probably going to break up your marriage.

You also know that there are very few professionals involved in a shooting that don't end up with some health issues in your life; ulcers, cancer, sometimes addictions, and that lovely catch all that pretty much screws other employment PTSD.

You know all this information every day you go to work. You know it everytime you do weapons training. You know it when the fear you feel is pounding your chest and you are shotgunned into a crisis you really hope is just going to end being another let down where you have to cuff and stuff some puke you have to write another report about for the upteenth time but you don't know because the situation is rocketing by faster than your brain can really think. You are reacting in miliseconds. And if you are lucky you get a lifetime to relive it a billion times after you have had night mares about faceing it too many times already.

the point is a 'professional' should have other options besides shooting someone dead

especially an unarmed someone

but perhaps campus police arent required to have the training that actual police are

when no other option is ATTEMPTED (wounding in the leg or foot where a RUSH Would then be less effective, for instance) or tasering, or mase, or retreating back into safe haven and calling for back up

I can think of several options a trained officer should have the capacity to attempt before immediately shooting to kill

i thought they all had pepper spray and a taser with them, but mayne it easier just to shoot...

ya think ?

Well the fact that most schools are private property and thus are policed by private forces with less training they are often undertrained, understaffed, and have mediocre equipment.

I know it probably sounds like mace or a tazzer would be a preferable weapon but that is working from a failed premise that this use of force actually stops people out of control. I swear on the life of my child that I have seen people people maced and tazzed and shake it off like you or I would a mosquito bite. Then they charge someone and usually overpower them. Actually shooting someone in the foot or leg is going to only annoy the hell out of them. Many people you are goig to find yourself having to deal with have been maced, tazzed, or shot before. And they are so out of their mind they don't care. They will even tell you to shoot them.

I guess maybe enough people have no concept of useing a gun but if you are lucky enough to actually hit such a small moving target it would be incredible. The chances are about slim and none I assure you and I was at one time and expert marksman. We are not talking about where you have time to zero in on a stationary target. These people are swaying, staggering, jumping around sometimes over furniture they have just thrown, cars, trappled other terrified people or can be in front of someone else that if the shot goes through can kill an innocent bystander. You even have to worry about ricochet or going through walls. The hope you actually have is the bullet will hit body mass and stop within the accused criminal.

People who have never actually shot a pistol think it's easy to just do it, point and shoot. Movies make it look easy.

how would you do that?

I dont know how 'campus' police work. I also have not shot a gun. But I can use common sense. To believe that the only option one has is to shoot, because they cant aim, doesnt hold water with me. IF I can point my finger in the direction I Want the bullet to go, I may not hit a bullseye, but Im gonna hit in THAT DIRECTION. THe issue however is not about people who havent shot guns, its about TRAINED AUTHORITY.

I HAVE been to a police training session and SEEN the training they receive on shooting a gun. THey get a split second to decide who and where to shoot. THat is their job,, unlike a novice without a gun. IT is a shame that anyone would be in such a position and not have the proper training to make such decisions in threatening situations,, which if we are to be honest, is what they are being Hired and PAID to do.

few criminals are gonna give you a chance to AIM if aiming is something that trips you up perhaps policing isnt the line of work for ya,,,


thats all im saying

well, from what I have seen, the finger pulls a little latch, just like on a water pistol, except its not water that shoots out

if your finger is on that latch, the stream of water (or bullets) is probably going to flow in the general direction of where you have the knuckle of that finger pointed,,,

so my guess would be , holding it above waist, straight, is probably not going to hit someones foot

and holding it above waist tilted upward, wont shoot their foot

and pointing it downward wont shoot their HEAD

,,,etc,,,,

They are trained on how to not pull there gun unless necessary. They know how to break a arm or leg to disable crazy people. There are 5 to 10 steps that were probably gone through to elevate this situation to the point where the officer fired.

There is no training and shouldn’t be training on how to use a gun to disable. Pulling the trigger is a last option. And the one option an officer has to protect his life and the life of others. Its not to subdue a person of to protect that person from there own self or drug induced violence.

He did the right thing if he had to fire. The only question is did he have to fire.

We may never know.


Yes feel sorry for the loss of life. But dont remove the resonsibily the victom had to not put others in danger including the officer. If that truly is what happened.

dont know what happened,

just know I disagree that the only option with a gun should be firing indiscriminately, or firing to kill


TRAINING< to me, means just that,, pulling the trigger doesnt really require training,,,

That was the point. It wasn’t the only option. It was the last option.

and until you point a gun at another sole and actually pull the trigger, I am fairly certain you have no concept of which you speak.

The mechanics of pulling the trigger are infantile. The mental process of pulling the trigger at someone else is beyond comprehension. Until you’re trained or experienced.

You seem to have no concern for the mental anguish this officer will be processing for the remainder of his life. Regardless of why he pulled the trigger. This will never end for him either.

Ever

who says I have no concern

its a shame the incident happened ALL THE WAY AROUND,,,better training would have perhaps prevented the officer from having to live with the fact that he took an unarmed mans life,,,

Your assumption of the danger level this officer faced is naive. It doesn’t take an external weapon to put others at risk of life including the officer. You must not know any well trained ex military men or even kids who have significant marshal arts training. Add drugs, they are a weapon.


I didn’t defend myself last time someone took swings at me. It was not for my concern or welfare sweetheart.