A man in El Cajon, CA was shot and killed by police after he pointed his vape at officers.
According to reports, Alfred Olango suffered from mental illness. He was having some sort of episode and the police were called on Olango by his sister.
Olango ignored instructions from the officers to remove his hand from his pocket and at one point, pulled out a Pioneer4You vape with a SMOK TFV Mini tank, took a shooting stance and acted as if his vape was a gun. One officer shot Olango with a taser and the other officer shot him four times with a handgun. One of those shots were fatal.
This has resulted in protests against the police in the local community.
My heart goes out to Mr. Olango’s family.
When I started vaping, one of my first thoughts about vaping in public was that my vape could be confused for a gun. I’ve actually always been very careful about how I hold my vape when I’m walking around out in public for that exact reason, and especially when I see a police car. I won’t even pull out my vape when there’s a cop nearby. With cops being on edge as they are these days, I just don’t trust it.
What about you? Do you ever worry that a cop might confuse your vape for a gun?
Alex is a former smoker who successfully quit smoking after 14 years by switching to vaping. Now a pro-vaping advocate, Alex has become a seasoned expert with over a decade of experience in the vaping industry. Since starting his vaping journey in 2010, Alex has earned a reputation as a trusted reviewer, extensively testing all types of vape gear, including mech mods, sub-ohm tanks, RDAs, disposables, e-juices, boro devices, squonkers, dry herb vaporizers, and e-rigs. He’s also explored the craft of coil building and DIY e-juice.
Since 2015, Alex has published more than 800 in-depth articles on vaping, produced over 500 videos covering product reviews, industry news, and tips, contributed to several well-known vape publications, and hosted a popular vaping podcast featuring over 100 episodes and nearly 40 hours of content.