Talk:2005 Denver police officer shooting

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2005 Denver police officer shooting was a good article nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There are suggestions below for improving the article. Once these are addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake. Reviewed version: July 31, 2007

Contents 1 AfD 2 Article Focus 3 NPOV 4 Title 5 new article needed 6 Rename 7 GA comments

[edit] AfD

This page hasn't been nominated for deletion, but slain cops are a controversial subject. Donnie Young is notable for 3 reasons. 1) He was a Medal of Honor winner---which is in and of itself notable. 2)The flight and 3) extradition of his murder created an international controversy. Balloonman 15:59, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Article Focus

This article seems too focused on the killer rather than the victim. While the facts of the case are relevant to Mr. Young's story, the Crime Stoppers piece is probably not. --Do Not Talk About Feitclub (contributions) 22:22, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

True, there isn't even basic info like his Date of Birth. What about the MoH citation?~Slight

There is no Donny Young listed on any list of MOH receipients, and the newspaper cites a "Medal of Honor" award, not the CMOH. A local honor is not good enough notability.

I stand corrected on the type of MOH... my mistake, apparently it was something called the police Medal of Honor---which I didn't even know existed. But he is still notable in that Bob Beauprez pushed a piece of legislation through congress as a result of the extradtion process. This legislation was then signed into law. As for the Crime Stoppers piece, I believe that it is relevant as it is part of the story and a significant controversy.Balloonman 14:25, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV

It seems to me as if this article has a bias towards the killer, mentioning much more about him, but with a sympathy towards his plight as well as his kin. Jmlk17 02:53, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

The death of the officer is, arguably not notable, as seen by previous AfD's for slain police officers. What makes this particular case notable is the aftermath of Donnie Young's death. 1) The international incident created with Mexico, 2) The new legistlation signed into law regarding law enforcement killers extradition, and 3) the Crime Stopper's controversy. Balloonman 14:28, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Title

A new article title might be appropriate, since in fact the notable subject is the shooting and aftermath, not the officer himself nor his biography. In fact, it might be better to name it after the shooter, Raúl García-Gómez, rather than Det. Young, especially since there were actually two victims. Another possibility would be to name it after the event, with "shooting" in the title. Comments and proposed new titles?

Also, I noticed there is an NPOV tag on the Crime Stoppers section. What specifically appears non-NPOV, so it can be addressed? --Ginkgo100 ^talk 21:40, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] new article needed

There needs to be an article on the Denver Police Department. Chris 23:15, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Not anymore; thanks for creating it. --Ginkgo100 ^talk 00:24, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Rename

This article definitely needs a rename. My two suggestions are the rather clunky Denver Mother's Day police shooting incident (2005) or Raúl García-Gómez. I don't want to glorify a convicted police killer, but nevertheless I think the latter is the better title. Other renaming suggestions are welcome! --Ginkgo100 ^talk 22:36, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

I think that the fact that he received the medal of honour means that he is more notable than the killer,so I think Raúl García-Gómez is out for the name. However, seeing as much of this article refers to the event rather than the person, I would suggest moving to "Denver Mother's Day Shooting (2005)" with Donnie Young (police officer) and Raúl García-Gómez redirecting to it. SGGH 23:25, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

I would agree... if the name does change, then we need to change it to "Denver Mother's Day Shooting (2005)"Balloonman 09:20, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

I would like to see the word "police" in the title because there was an unrelated and nn shooting, not involving the police, at about the same time. At any rate I wouldn't name it after Det. Young in part because Det. Bishop was also a victim. --Ginkgo100 ^talk 15:44, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

I have boldly changed the name and reworked the intro to focus on the incident. --Ginkgo100^talk 22:03, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] GA comments

Hello, here are my comments after reviewing the article for good article status.

• "created an international incident with Mexico, where Gómez-García was apprehended" - was the incident that he was apprehended or was the incident that US wanted to extradite him and all the death penalty issues? In other words I think this needs a rewording.
• "Young and Bishop escorted Raúl Gómez-García out of the the hall. " - why?
• "a.k.a. " - nasty, use English rather than acronyms here.
• "Gómez-García" is used far too many times to make the prose readable. If there's no ambiguity from one sentence to the next, you could refer to him as "He" from time to time.
• The "Shooting" section is muddled, you discuss the shooting, then Garcia's background, then his arrest. Reorder it to make it more readable.
• "...Young's death would prove to be good ..." - really? Phrased like that? Perhaps that his death wasn't in vain, but I can't believe he said it would prove to be good. If so, I'd like the quotation copied into the article verbatim along with a citation.
• "The mandatory penalty for first degree murder in Colorado is either execution or life in prison without the possibility of parole." vs "While murdering a police officer is usually a capital offense in Colorado" - consistency required here. Is there a specific sentence for murdering police officers? If so then just state that, if not then these sentences seem to contradict each other.
• "32-96" - rewrite as "between 32 and 96"
• "...testified that he was proud to have murdered Officer Young." - can you expand on that? How did the arresting officers know this? Did he brag to them? And the same for his ex-girlfriend.
• On one hand you state " 32-96 " as maximum, then "sentenced to the maximum punishment of 80 years" - inconsistent.
• "sentenced to the maximum punishment of 80 years." - with parole?
• "He was wearing the number "13", a symbol associated with the street gang Sureños, shaved into his hair. " - why is this in this location within the article? Did it have an effect on the sentencing? If so, state that.
• "didn't " - avoid this, use "did not".
• Reference 6 seems to be invisible.

As it stands, the article needs a good overhaul from a prose perspective. The placement of a number of statements is confusing and makes the reading difficult. Also, there are a couple of contradictory statements which need to be resolved. As such, I'll fail the GA for the time being, but please don't hesitate to correct these issues and re-nominate. All the best. The Rambling Man 08:05, 31 July 2007 (UTC)