Naan's link is appalling.
One of the stories in the link is about Richard Weaver, an 83 year old man wandering around threatening people with a machete. Frightening and dangerous, obviously. The newspaper report says:
"an officer ordered Weaver to put down the machete, but he did not comply, officials said. Weaver raised his machete and made an aggressive move toward the officer, officials said.
The officer then shot Weaver, who pronounced dead at the scene."
Here, the officers first on the scene would almost certainly not be armed. They'd cordon off the area and try to talk him down. In fact, in these situations they seem routinely to wait it out, for long hours if necessary, while keeping the offender kettled in one area. People get tired and hungry and the anger goes out of them. And then you move in and get the weapon.
In so many US reports I read, where the offender or suspect is black and/or poor and/or mentally ill, shooting seems to be the first, not last, resort. And that does say something about how their lives are regarded in that society. Not very much if at all, in summary.