KPTV (Fox): "Police use perfectly acceptable lawful force protecting themselves from Downtown Portland street trash armed with pit bull."

Yeah, but news outlets use caution (or a passive voice) even when the details are clear. The war in Iraq, for instance, produced a lot of headlines like, "US Soldiers Enter Fallujah, 15 Dead."

eh... that wasn't a good example.

Mistakes were made.

DEADLY mistakes!

*cue orchestral swell*

Also -- speaking as a professional journalist -- I don't find any problem with how KOIN, KATU or the Willamette Week phrased the headline. They all have to have unique heads and there are only so many ways to say what happened in such a limited space.

On the other hand, the Oregonian's headline is superfluous and not nearly as informative as it should be.

Whatever happened to "shoot to injure/unarm"

ntrecek,

We've been over this a few times all ready in other threads on this subject today, but that's not always possible.

Besides, he died from being shot in the leg (aterial trauma).