I think the police should never use lethal violence if there are any passive options available to them. This guy was obviously guilty of murder, but I'm more worried about other cases where the police might decided to use techniques like this in the name of safety, such as a "drug bust" against "armed and dangerous criminals" that happens to be carried out against innocents at the wrong address.
I think we are owed more explanation for this precedent.
There is also a question of time pressure: if police are just camped outside my door telling me to drop my weapon I will be less inclined to do so because the threat (for both of us) is not yet imminent.
If they instead say, "we are coming in. Drop your weapon or we will shoot" the threat is now imminent for both parties.
In this situation, the police are using deadly force without (a clear) imminent threat. That feels like a big red line to relax.
Do we merely need the "potential" for deadly threat on the police to justify the use of a machine capable of applying deadly force? If this machine can deliver a bomb, it seems likely that it could deliver less-than-lethal alternatives, as well (?).
In this instance, those less-than-lethal options may not have been available; however, it feels really problematic to say "our only option was to kill this man because attempting to subdue/apprehend him in any other way would have - definitely - led to a deadly threat on our officers".
That could be true - but it also seems very different than a police officer reacting to an imminent threat with deadly force. To that point, the presence of a knife in a suspect's hand is not inherently a lethal threat. They are given the opportunity to drop the knife as officers approach to apprehend them. If they raise that knife, or begin approaching the officer rapidly, then this becomes a lethal threat.
In this mechanized situation, are they still offered that same opportunity to self-disarm before lethal force is applied?
Does this lower the bar for 'lethal threat' so that police can send a small machine to kill a suspect because they have the potential to apply deadly force on the police (but haven't imminently demonstrated that ability)?