Signs that you may live in a police state

1. The cops dragoon unsuspecting civilians into a live-fire “training exercise.”

Trooper Severely Injured, Gunman Dead in Shooting at Greyhound Station in Richmond, Virginia
Officials said the shooting happened near the end of a counter-drug training mission for state police. Part of the training involves approaching civilians and talking to them.

When a state trooper walked up to one man at the bus station, the man pulled a gun and shot the officer at close range, officials said. The officer has since died and the gunman is also dead.

Reports are varied as to number of wounded and dead, and even the suspect’s condition (even the above article has changed while I type). But the “training exercise” appears uniformly. So there’s no real information on little things like motive. But…

WTF are the cops doing running a “training exercise” in a working bus station filled with civilians who don’t know they’re participating? And why would the cops be using live ammo for an exercise with civilians?

I really want to see some surveillance cam footage of how those cops “approached” the shooter, along with what they were wearing.

Updated speculation: As you can see above (and from various stories), originally it wasn’t specified that the officer who was shot was in uniform. The confusion over who was shot (two officers and a female civilian and the shooter, then two officers and two civilians, then one officer and two civilians…) made me wonder if they had trouble sorting cops and civilians because the officers were in plainclothes. That could be significant in figuring out the shooter’s motivation; was he concerned about a pushy guy in civvies trying to grill him? Or did he have some reason to fear arrest?

NBC has now updated their article to indicate that the “state trooper in uniform walked up to one man”. That would appear to indicate the guy knew it was a cop. But…

Then I read this: “[Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne] Geller added that the shooter approached the trooper, who was dressed in an “identifiable” outfit before they had a conversation and the man drew a gun and opened fire.”

An “identifiable outfit”? Why not just say uniform. Odd phrasing, that. Now I really want to see surveillance footage. Was the cop in plainclothes except for a raid jacket with “Police” across the back?

And who approached whom?