This better defenitly not be a justified shooting because when the victim suffered 2 gun shot wounds theirs no self defense or justification. If i shot someone twice and claimed self defense, that claim would be thrown out quickly because i shot the victim twice. When you shoot someone multiple times your trying to kill them, when you shoot someone once your trying to subdue them with out fatality, what ever happen to shooting people in the legs, why the stomach? and why the chest? Why? Theirs been a lot of Police related shootings in the state in the past recent years and its come to my attention about how Police officers handle situations with out a train of thought. I remember hearing about the Johnston polcie department arresting a mentally retarded male of Providence for questioning of his identity, his uncle kept telling the officers about his situation and showed total disregard, to make a long story short the police department after confirming his identity released the mentally retarded male back on to the streets in the middle of the night, the male was missing for 2 weeks and was later found. The states police forces have to get their act together because they hurt the children and family of the victims, and continue to do as the stats show. We need a voice for the victims and victims family.

You have no idea what your talking about......
police are taught to shoot to stop the threat standard practice is two shots center mass....

When you shoot to "hurt" you end up not going home to your family....

your the type of person who will sit and judge an officer but couldn't walk one step in his shoes......

I am curious as to why the Pawtucket Police Dept. dosen't use taser guns? Wouldn't it be a lot safer for the policemen instead of using a gun? It is a simple answer to situations like this.

Standard 'double tap', Gregory. You never shoot to 'wound'. That's moronic. You shoot to kill the guy before he kills you, in this case with a samurai sword.

To me this looks much more like 'suicide by cop' than anything else.

--Second attempt to post due to unreadable 'security code'.--

Are you the Gregory Rego born in 1982 in the RI Judiciary homepage with a firearms arrest??? Cops are trained to shoot to stop not to kill or hurt.

Typical liberal fool. Standard practice is called a double tap. Two rounds hence two gunshots. Both rounds fired in the span of a second. A SECOND! You nitwit. Shoot them in the legs? You are as dumb as it gets. Do you honestly think it's that easy? I can't believe how stupid you appear to be! How can you possibly relate a shotting with the situtation in Johnston? You read what you see in the paper and listen to the talking heads on the news. Did you ever stop and think there is more to the story? I'm sure we'll hear about what a nice guy this guy ws and how he needed help and the police wouldn't help him. Did you ever stop and think if you would attack the police with a sword? How about the officer's family. Do you think he wants to go home to his kids? Or wife? He's doing his job and in that moment it was to eliminate the threat to HIS LIFE. He absolutely did the right thing. God Bless him because I'm sure he's never going to forget this. I hope people like you don't ever need the police in a situation like that. God knows...you wouldn't handle it yourself!

No one knows what happened in that apartment. Stop rushing to judgement. It will all come to light. I love these people who immediately make the police out to be guilty. I feel for Mrs. Swift, she is obviously in a terrible situation. However, lets not forget that less than twelve hours prior to this incident Jason was reported for Domestic Violence, making him wanted for 24 hours under RI law. He was wielding a sword for god sakes and ran away from police. He was non compliant. He was also a large man and yes, "menatlly disabled", making him more dangerous. He could have been under the influence or alcohol or drugs or both. As a former MP in the Army and retired police officer, let me tell you this...we do not shoot to wound or hit leggs. You aim for center of mass, which is the torso. Its the largest part and easiest, especially under stress, to hit without posing a threat to others in the area. Anyway, who knows if he grabbed another weapon or had his hands on the throat of one of the officers? Maybe he tried to grab one of their guns. We don't know. God bless the Pawtucket Police. Pawtucket can be a dangerous city bordering Providence and Central Falls. These officers put their lives on the line everytime they put the uniform on. Those of you who are so quick in blaming them couldn't walk a minute in their boots. Maybe you would like to live in a society without people who risk their lives to keep the peace and protect people who don't even like them.

I am confused as to why there is a continuous assumption as to the threat to the officer's life. By all indications the sword was already taken from the victim outside the house, whereas the victim was later shot in the house. Was Swift brandishing another weapon? What level of threat did he impose if there was no weapon? What is actual police policy if the victim held no weapon? I am willing to accept it as a good decision if there was another weapon but I have not heard any report that there was one.

Liberals. You've gotta love them. They hate authority when it comes to the use of guns yet if a naked man comes toward them wielding a sword you can bet a Starbucks Latte' they would wish they had a gun. And if they get injured the question would be, "Where were the cops?". The officer in question did everything by the book and the only person harmed was the perp. Game Over

To Confused: The threat does not have to be "the sword". As Michael stated in the post just above yours, tis person could have had his hands on another officers throat, or he could have picked up something in the room to use as a weapon or even the cuffs he had on, if in the right position, can be used as a weapon. Just his height and weight, if applied correctly, can be used as a weapon against someone shorter/lighter in weight. We all need to wait for the investigation to be completed before any questions are going to be answered. And I do agree with the posters that say the police are in a tough position - if they didn't do anything, they might not be going home to their families, or perhaps this person could have harmed some other innocent person not at all involved in this incident. Then everyone would be faulting the officers for not doing the right thing. Damned if they do, damned if they don't in today's society!

how can anyone sit back and say that they believe this in any way was a justifiable shooting? It was already stated that swifty was totally naked so where would he have hid a weapon the officers had him where they could have taken him into custody without this happening but they told Betty to let him go. why? why not keep him outside where he was he had already been maced, but instead you send his Mom away and let him go upsatirs, then go up and shot him in the back. and kill him over what the officer being upset about his sun glasses being knocked off. there ar always two sides to every story and the truth lies in the middle but only one side will ever be heard. the side that will tell us it was a good shooting and the rest will be brushed under the rug and forgotten. I feel like the pawtucket police have let us down yet again. our police here seem to be just bully's and they don't care about the people of Pawtucket. This department should be investagated by an outside entity not the IAD or State police because there will never be a through investagation into what happened. I understand that police officers have the hardest job of all my late brother in law was a cop for twenty years but in all his years he never had to kill a person and he was a cop in New York a tough state to be a cop in.they were taught how to deals with different situations not shoot first ask questions later.The providence police dealt with a stuation a few years back where one of their officers was shot and killed right in the interrogation room . the person who killed him had mental problems but that person is alive and serving his time he's not dead. they did their job under stress they way they were trained to. all I can say is wake up Pawtucket and lets all speak for the ones that can't.Swifty may you rest in peace and Betty its not your fault you did what was right but the ones we all trust to do the right thing failed you and all the other Pawtucket residents who count on them

I feel people need to hear what all the facts before any judgements are made. I have yet to read the full account of what happened upstairs. I know people that work with individuals with mental illness and when a person gets enraged it can take several trained people to restrain them. In some cases at injury to themself. Some of these metally ill individuals where half the size of the shooting victim. We need to find out if proceedure was followed ? Does the proceedure need to be re-evaluated ? Then and only then are we in any position to judge.

Perhaps they had the mom step away, and allowed him to go upstairs for her protection. He could have very easily taken her as a hostage, or used her as a shield. One wouldn't want to believe this is possible as it is a mother/son relationships, but of course its possible. Think what type of situation could have arose out of a scenerio like that. Like someone else posted....police are damned if they do, and damned if they don't. I don't think a parallel shoud be attempted to be drawn to this and the Providence case. That is trying to compare apples and oranges, and as you stated...a police officer was killed there. Fortunately the Pawtucket police where in a situation where they could utilize the skills they were trained in. Please set emotions aside. You need to look at it in an unbiased way if at all possible. And I believe the people of Pawtucket should be proud of their police force. It takes great men and women to put their lives on the line, for the safety of others.

i knew him. he was a nice man. he wasnt well, and the police knew that going in. thats what makes this so sad. its true that no one knows what happened in the apartment, however, he was troubled and the police were informed of that. the mother told them before they even had a first encounter, "he's a big man and he's going to think you're trying to hurt him." what this is is tragic. and, as everyone knows, anyone can file a domestic charge against anyone, whether it be true or not. none of us knows the whole story and its easy to judge. his mother has to live with the guilt of feeling like she killed him, and his baby has to live without his daddy. my kids lived without their daddy their whole lives because he died when they were babies. no one wins in this. the police are under attack a lot of the time. they live in a world where they are threatened constantly. however, i think its gone a little too far. my uncle was a cop in new york. i learned a lot from him. situations turn scary, but i think a different type of training for different types of people needs to be incorporated into their training.

if anyone has read or listen to the news on swift the sword was out side of the home i do not know what would have made the officer shot mr swift judging situations with out all the facts causes griff for all partys so we should wait tell they are all in before judging the officer or the victim i feel for his mom who only wanted to get help for her son it is a hard spot to be in god bless you

R_
"my uncle was a cop in new york."

R, your suddenly and expert because your uncle was a cop. please!!
The cops have plenty of training, why don't we all wait until the facts are presented.
The only one who knows what happened in the room, was the four cops and the dead suspect. This BS infuriates me. RI the home of the most liberal people!!! Don't care if the cops die but if the poor innocent sword wielding suspect dies! please!!

first of all..r.i.p. swifty...you were always a good guy for as long as i have known you. second,i can't wait for the real story to come out,so we can see that some of these pawtucket officers are not as friendly as they appear..they have big time power trips!! but wait,there isnt going to be a real story,because its going to be 3officers words against a dead guys...way to go pawtuckets finest!!! another job well done!!!

All these people saying "well, the sword was still outside, what justification could the police have had to use lethal tactics if the man was unarmed?" A BIC Pen used the right way can be a deadly weapon, people. Who's not to say the man didn't have another weapon inside his apartment? Or at 5'6", 300 lbs didn't use his own BODY as a weapon! He could have rushed at the officer attemping to attack him physically, or he could have grabbed one of their clubs, or one of there GUNS, with the intention of using it! He could have grabbed any number of things in his apartment with the inention of doing harm to them - and very easily could have. My point is you don't know what went on in that apartment so to jump to conclusion that the officers were unjustified just isn't fair at this time. Whatever happened to Innocent until proven Guilty?

To all you pro victim / anti police posters: How many heads is this "innocent" person allowed to chop off before the police can shoot him? You have problems yourself if you think the police like to shoot people.