Ward 1, the point is the police did NOT know with certainty he was armed when they shot him.  They didn't see the gun til he was dead. We all saw the video---  He was floundering in the snow   and not yet a  threat to police in defensive positions; he could have been tased at that moment and that would have ended the drama.   To be a risk he would have had to reach in that jacket,  pull out his gun and  carefully aim it before any of the officers  pointing their guns at him could fire their weapons.
As JJ stated so clearly  "He got what he was after."  Yes, he got to be a martyr to "The Cause", and now his widow  is drawing huge angry anti-government crowds with 12 kids to back her up.  It didn't need to end this way. This is particularly unfortunate because up to the moment of the shooting law enforcement had done an excellent, if drawn out, job of preventing violence.