content: The 18 shots isn't the problem, the handling of the situation overall is tragically bad.  At least 3 officers, you don't shoot once, wait to see if anyone dropped him, then take the next shot, you just unload. But you either do that before he moves in on the victim, which is a tough but reasonable choice given the situation, or try to talk him down if you let it happen. I'm not an armchair cop, I know how things can go south and very quickly when you're not just watching it after the fact, but these guys did everything wrong albeit in a non-malicious way.