He should, he will, and I never meant to imply that he shouldn't. But the cop should to, yet probably won't. That's a very wrong message to send to the other officers who struggle with accurate situation assessment and cold-headedness. Not to mention trigger-happy sociopaths.
> The fake situation called in was so serious
It's part of proper police work to assess the actual seriousness of the situation before escalating violence. Hostage-taking is a crime that actually exists, and police must be prepared to face it adequately. But SWATing is also a crime that actually exists, and police must also be prepared to face it adequately.
In most other countries, there is a much stronger doctrine of trying to avoid violence escalation, and way fewer people are killed by police: guilty suspects, innocent suspects and collateral damages alike. One could be tempted to see a causality.
> at least a manslaughter charge for both would be more than reasonable.
Totally agree. And depending on whether the cop felt like "he's about to gun me!" or "I'm unsure, but if I shoot I can get away with it", it's either manslaughter or murder. We'll probably never know beyond reasonable doubt, so it can't go beyond manslaughter in practice.
The fake situation called in was so serious (something like being armed and holding hostages, having already murded multiple of them if I recall correctly) that the caller should have reasonably expected a lethal response was possible. The law generally regards getting somebody to kill somebody for you as being the same as pulling the trigger yourself, so at least a manslaughter charge for both would be more than reasonable.