and the cops wanted to know if it was armed
Unless it was stolen off the ready line at a tank gunnery range, it would not have main gun ammo on board in the US, nor would there be any live main gun rounds at the unit.
The main gun was obviously secured in the travel lock, which means he couldn't aim it or the coax MG at anything even if he did have ammo for the 105 or had the coax MG mounted. There was no .50 cal barrel showing from the TC cupola, either.
Tank machine guns, and generally the main gun firing pin, are normally kept in the unit arms room, which is a lot harder to get into than a motor pool.
Of course reporters don't actually know shit about much of anything anyway, and most cops don't know all that much more about weapons other than their carry piece beyond which end the bullets come out. Facts obvious to a soldier can be total mysteries to them. They were still right to shoot him, they had no way of knowing if he had a handgun on him, and the crew compartment of a tank is no place to try to wrestle down a possibly-armed man.
