You didn’t need the recent events in Kenosha, Wisconsin, to know that something is seriously rotten in American policing. But this week’s murder of two protesters by a gun-toting, cop-worshipping teenage vigilante is a visceral reminder of the human costs of law enforcement’s affinity for armed, right-wing militias.

From what we know so far, though the boy who was apprehended didn’t have ties to extremist movements, he was a wannabe police officer. Besides a Facebook page littered with pro-police words and images, he had been part of his local police department’s “Explorer” program, which trains teens and young adults in policing activities like traffic stops, domestic disputes, and firearm use, with the aim of eventually piping them into a law enforcement career. Much like the police, who view themselves as the “thin blue line” protecting civilization from lawless hordes of agitators, he apparently saw himself as protecting Kenosha’s people and property from protesters and rioters.

It seems at least some of the local police sympathized with the armed militia members who hovered menacingly around the city this past week. One video shows officers passing water out to armed men, including the eventual shooter, and telling the group that “we appreciate you guys.” Videos and eyewitness testimony both have the police passing over the armed teen gunman as they responded to reports of gunfire, even as protesters pointed to him as the one responsible. The police, it seems, already had an image of the killer in their heads; a white kid with a semi-automatic rifle apparently wasn’t it.