The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin)
While the term “suicide by cop” is relatively new, the situation it describes is not.
The most comprehensive study of the phenomenon examined more than 430 shootings by Los Angeles County deputies between 1987 and 1997 and found that suicide by cop accounted for 11 percent of all police shootings and 13 percent of all such fatal shootings.
The study found that suspects involved in such cases intended to commit suicide, specificially wanted to be shot by police, possessed or appeared to possess a lethal weapon, and intentionally escalated the encounter, provoking the police officers into shooting them.
Ninety-eight percent of the suspects involved were men; 39 percent of the cases involved domestic violence.
In addition to the March 9 Red Caboose incident and the fatal police shooting of Timothy Wing by Madison Police Officer Tim Hahn, records indicate there have been at least two other local cases in recent years that would fit the criteria for a suicide by cop or attempted suicide by cop.
Last year, 39-year-old Julio Cesar Contreras was shot and killed by police following a botched robbery at the Park Street Bank. An internal investigation found that Contreras had written a suicide note to his family and forced police to shoot him by firing on them first.
In 1996, Katharine “Kitty” Barber was shot five times by police after leading them on a chase from Madison to the town of Windsor. Barber pointed a gun to her head as she walked toward police, then was shot when she pointed it at an officer.