Again, I am relying on news reports so All of what I opine on is based on that.
I did have one thought I forgot to mention. Zarate’s arrest is reported as occurring about one hour after the incident. The bullet retrieved from the body of the victim was discovered to have a flattened side consistent with a ricochet. That evidence wasn’t discovered until four days after the incident. That’s when investigators returned to the pier to look for the location of the ricochet. Up until then, investigators were working off the assumption that Zarate had taken direct aim at the victim.
By the time the ricochet was discovered.....how much pressure had already been building for a conviction of murder? One can assume the high profile nature and the politics were more than just a distraction.
That particular model firearm has an external hammer that can be manually cocked. When it is, the double action feature which is about a ten pound trigger pull turns into single action with about a 5 lb trigger pull or less.
But there is one other possibility and that is a slip of the thumb while cocking the hammer can result in an accidental discharge. The BLM and all law enforcement for that matter requires the duty weapon to have one round hot in the chamber. That’s the way it is carried. That is why the owners manual warns against manually cocking the hammer. Police officers who are trained and experienced with their firearm....have accidental discharges when distracted or just not thinking clearly. A moron without any prior experience with a Sig Sauer P239 would be an accident waiting for a place to happen. I’d be interested to know how many rounds were found in the magazine when the gun was found or if the magazine was even in the magazine well.
Im not saying that’s what happened. I think only Zarate really knows.
Trump, a moron of a different kind.......however knows exactly what he is doing and should have his phone placed in a lockbox before it accidentally goes off again and really hurts somebody.