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?