"Walmart Security video clearly shows the youth with a rifle in his hands just before he was shot by police.
How would one tell without close inspection what kind of gun it was?
www.wksu.org/news/story/40578

I may be in the minority, but it seems to me that the only option is to shoot if the weapon is not dropped immediately.
What other options are there when the public is under possible threat?"

The Walmart video shows very clearly that he never once pointed that gun in the general direction of, let alone directly at, a single human being. In fact, for most of the eight minutes he carried that gun, he wasn't in direct line of sight of any human being. The only time he lifted the muzzle was to poke at products on the shelf about knee high.

The 911 caller flatly LIED, bigging himself up, and has admitted as much.

Also the Grand Jury didn't have the Walmart tape when they decided not to prosecute. If they had, they would know that the cops entered, shouted and fired all in the space of one second, hardly enough time for their victim to respond, even if he had the resctions of a Formula One driver.

It was an execution, plain and simple. They were wound up by the lies of the caller and went in shouting and shooting at the same time.