blood shed, a life lost

When thinking about major ethical decisions one in particular comes to mind. Just a little background of the story: A really close friend of the family, Nick Lenhart, was going through a real rough time in his life about four years ago. He ran off to Vegas and came home as a married man. We had never met or even heard of this woman. We all had to get to know her on Christmas Eve and of course she sucked up to the kids, playing games and giving them candy. I didn't trust her at all. She was an alcoholic and she kicked in Nick right back into his old habits. He too, started drinking a lot. One night the two of them went out to a nearby bar and had a few drinks. Tracy, the wife, went home before Nick and went to bed, she had to get up early in the morning. Nick came home around 2:30 and started dragging Tracy out of bed and yelling at her (this is how she told the story-Nick was a rude, angry drunk) Nick trashed the house and told her to pack her bags and get out. She did as he said and packed a few things and left. she walked to the gas station down the street and used the pay phone (he snapped her cell phone in half) to call his parents to get him to calm down and also called the police. By the time the police had arrived Nick had blocaded all the doors and windows and set up homemade flamethrowers with arosal cans and gasoline and lighters. He had truly lost it. The police tried to come in from the balcony where Nick was standing yelling at Tracy. An Orland Park cop climbed up the ladder and attempted to step over the railing. Nick got in his face and denied him entry. Nick picked up the arosal can and his lighter and said that he poured gasoline all over his condo and that he would set it on fire if they dont back off. Meanwhile, another cop made it into the condo and was coming to help out the cop on the balcony. His parents were walking up to the condo when they heard shots being fired. They knew right away that there boy was killed. Nick came at the cop on the balcony and the cop fired his gun. Nick stumbled back towards the other cop inside and he too shot him. Two bullets went through his chest and killed him right there in his living room. I know Nick was acting crazy and he was drunk. He was causing domestic violence and tracy and nick were fighting. Did they have to take his life? They were armed with tazors, why didnt they use those? They could have found other ways to take control of the situation. Was this the right choice? Was taking a man's life the best thing to do in this situation? How has Nick's friends and families lives changed because of this one officer's decision to fire? How has the cop's life changed, maybe this was the first man he has ever killed. I dont think it was the right choice.

I plan on writing a newspaper article on this particular event. asking the unit 3 ethical questions and hoping to work out some frustration reguarding this situation.