“While I think it is sad that this man’s life ended this way, I am not surprised,” wrote Hayduke. “This man was a career criminal, a burglar.” Hayduke added that Wade Pennington was parked in a retail parking lot in the middle of the night when he drove away from police, which made him “fully responsible.”

That view, though shared by David and BlackMamba, was in the minority, surrounded by dozens of comments from cop critics and Pennington supporters.

“Even if he had burglarized a business, that would have been no justification for shooting him,” wrote Buh Bye Lohra.

“There are laws out there for everyone’’s protection, including the bad guys,” wrote Dennis. “If you flee from an officer, they cannot shoot you because of that.”

“I believe that there are some good cops out there, but these officers involved in this shooting were very negligent in their actions,” wrote candice boggs. “Any good cop should be behind this family 100 percent searching for justice, not just trying to cover it up!”