Cop Threatens To Shoot Protesters If They Come To His House, Shoots Another Cop Instead

(TMU) – Calvin “Nick” Salyers, an Arkansas police officer, allegedly shot and killed another officer who knocked on his door, just after bragging to co-workers that he would shoot any protesters who came to his house.

On June 3rd, fellow officer Scott Hutton arrived at Salyers’ home to pick up a police car shortly after 7 p.m. Hutton texted Salyers to ask if he was awake but got no response, so he went to the front door and knocked.

For some reason, Salyers was paranoid about who could be at the door, and told his girlfriend, Ashlee Cummings, that he was going to see who it was.

Before answering the door, Salyers grabbed his gun. When he looked out the peephole, he says that he saw a “figure standing on his porch with a dark shirt and a gun on his hip.”

What happened next is still being investigated, but Salyers claims that he accidentally fired the gun while attempting to move it from his right to his left hand so he could open the door.

The bullet shot through his front door and hit Hutton who instantly collapsed. Salyer quickly realized that he had shot another officer and then called 911 to report the incident. Hutton was rushed to a hospital where he died shortly after.

Other officers who investigated the scene noted that there was evidence that the gun was pressed against the door when it was fired and that Hutton was “standing at an angle and not squarely facing the door.”

When Hutton was standing in front of the door, he was wearing his badge and while he was not in uniform, he would have been easy to identify as a police officer. Salyer also could have easily called out and asked Hutton to identify himself before pointing a loaded gun at the door with the safety off.

When the protests against police brutality began in Minneapolis began earlier this year, Salyers reportedly told his co-workers that he intended to “shoot through the door” at any protesters who came to his house.

His superiors reportedly heard about his remarks before the incident occurred and told him that taking such action would be “reckless and negligent.” He was told that it was against policy to fire his gun without first identifying himself as a police officer, according to Sgt. Matt Wharton.

Unfortunately, Salyers did not take the advice that he was given, and was apparently eager to get in a gun battle with non-existent protesters outside of his house. Alexander is a small town with a population of under 4,000, and is an unlikely place for the type of riots that Salyers seemed to be fantasizing about.

Salyers was charged with manslaughter on Wednesday, and his bond was set at $15,000. Salyers has been with the Alexander Police Department for about three years.

After the shooting, the Alexander Police Department announced Hutton’s death on their Facebook page and shared a fundraiser for the fallen officer’s family. The announcement said that Hutton was killed “in the line of duty,” just after achieving his “dream” of becoming a cop.