The NAACP Legal Defense Fund has stepped in to request an independent review of Baltimore County police tactics.

Any police officer who shoots to kill is playing with fire. In that split second of deciding whether to shoot and where to aim, that officer has appointed himself judge, jury and executioner over a fellow citizen.

A few months ago, most probably would have believed that Gaines' best course of action was to comply with the police in order to get herself and her children home safely. But "a few months ago" was before Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.