(CNN) When police believe a suspect could harm or kill them, they're usually trained to fire as many gunshots as it takes to bring that suspect down. Law enforcement departments have long fielded questions about why officers fired as many shots as they did at a suspect. If officers are using deadly force, they're usually trained to not pause their fire and to shoot in quick succession -- taking a break to assess the suspect they're shooting at could give that suspect time to harm them or others, he said. This can create confusion among the officers, though, he said: They may mistake another officer's shots for the suspect firing shots at them, which could cause them to continue to shoot needlessly. In circumstances where officers don't know whether a suspect is armed, an officer's lack of confidence could cause them to fatally shoot an unarmed person.

Source: CNN August 26, 2020 11:15 UTC