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By Brandon via concealednation.org

Irving, Texas police were confronted with a bad situation Friday afternoon when an armed man took an employee hostage in the parking lot. A suspect robbed the Cash Store and decided to take a female hostage with him. While outside, he was confronted by police who were ready to act accordingly . . .

The scene was caught on camera by a witness who was in disbelief when one of the officers took action. The move, over in just a second, was a single precision shot to the hostage-taker’s head, sending him to the ground and rescuing the hostage.

“The suspect rounded the corner and put the hostage into a car. At that moment, realizing the hostage’s life was in danger, the officers opened fire – striking and killing the suspect,” according to Irving police spokesman James McClellan.

The hostage was not injured. The suspect, however, was pronounced dead at the scene.

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109 COMMENTS

    • Helps that their triggers are not modified to make it impossible to shoot precisely, as they are in NYC.
      In this case, there was also the advantage of the criminal being a head taller than his hostage.
      But great shooting, regardless. Wouldn’t be surprised if the shooter was ex-military.

        • Do a web search on “Glock Trigger Spring NY 1” or NY 2. It essentially makes the trigger pull about 12lbs versus a normal 4 or 5lb trigger. And if you want to see how that feels, find a Range with S&W 686 that has not had a trigger job. A 2000 era model out of the box is about 12bs in double action mode.

          If you find one, try shooting it accurately or fast. Not easy.

          In NYC they are more worried about public perception than even officer safety. A negligent discharge is worse than a hostage being killed.

      • Ex ranch kid before ex military service.
        Saw my grandpa take the head off a rattle snake from a litte more distance, his son, my uncle, was just as good.

    • You’ll generally find cops in more gun friendly states to be much more proficient with their weapons. Most of us in my dept grew up shooting

  1. Dont give two sh.ts for the thug, just found myself curious about where the round ended up downrange?
    Nice shot.
    Off like a light switch.

    • If you watch till the end the AR officer had trees behind the guy, not saying the bullet went there but it is possible.

    • AR means high velocity light weight projectile. As it’s a police gun probably hollow points and not fmj.

      If I had to take that same shot, freeway backdrop, that’s the round I’d want to make the shot with.

      It’s an ugly situation. But letting the BG get the hostage in a moving vehicle just makes it worse.

    • There are times when gunplay is required- civilian or military- and you have to risk the very unlikely collateral damage to avoid the certain direct damage. It’s generally impossible in a real-life shootout to know what is behind your target unless they are helpfully engaging you at a firing range.

  2. That was my exact thought. An hostage situation with a freeway in the back with people passing without even realising what’s happening there.
    And an associated risk of sending bullets to a passing car. However the policeman took the risk knowing: a. it was needed; b. he knew what hwe was doing.

    • And C – He knew if he missed and hit a passerby nothing would happen to him. Unlike one of us, if we took that shot and missed, hitting an inocent bystander, we would be going to jail.

        • You’re right.

          And in San Bernadino, it took the PD 4 minutes to get there.

          SO IF YOU HAD BEEN AN ARMED CIVILIAN IN SB, we guess you’d probably wait for the cops, since it’s not your yob (sic).

  3. You have to wonder what was directly behind the head of the target, it mostly looks like a freeway. Know your target and what’s beyond it. (this is not a criticism of the cop, just an observation)

  4. Can you guys see much of the robber/shooting?
    I can’t.

    After the shot, I’m wondering what the guys standing around holding guns out are pointing them at, assuming the perp is dead on the ground.

    That said, the results are what really count. Hostage not physically damaged, armed robber/hostage taker (perps don’t get any more dangerous than that, unless maybe they’re spree killers) DRT.

    • This is an edited version. The one i saw ealier today clearly, well as clear as is possible, shows the shot connect. Check liveleak.

    • Thanks to Tom near Atlanta for the HD video. It clearly shows the cop on the left fire an AR and the impact on the head.

      It also clearly shows the asshole behind the white car cover the hostage with his sidearm until the AR holding cop finally ends the threat by stepping in front of him.

      The guy with the AR performed commendably. The guy crouching behind the white car ‘performed in accordance with training’, which is one of the worst insults I can lay on a LEO.

  5. Nice shot!

    Not trying to fan the anti cop flames here but I Don’t exactly see the hostage being put into the car though: so o question the politically correct statement from the p.d. I’m pretty sure the hostage was the one who appeared to run/stumble away after he was shot.

    Either way: nice shot under pressure

    • Nice playback in 1080P and 0.25x speed.
      What you say about 15 yards?

      The BG was nice and tall and he stuck his noggin right out in the open and had some good separation from the hostage. He even stood nice and still for a good few seconds. He won’t do that again.

      • “He even stood nice and still for a good few seconds. He won’t do that again.”

        He’s going to be “nice and still” for a long, long, time.

        *snicker*

      • Do you think it was the dead guy’s parents? The hostage looked like a white girl, def. not black. Seeing your son get shot in the head would be traumatizing.

      • Looked like the guy was stuck in one of the parked cars the hostage taker was standing between for cover. Doubt either him or the woman were related to the dead guy since you can hear her saying “Thank you Jesus” when she has him clear of the cars.

  6. Well done that Officer!
    Obviously not the right reaction in every case, but in this instance, using the officers training and knowledge, I’d call that a clean result.
    And ya know what? That perp is going to have a 0% recidivism rate after that attempted robbery

  7. Only “down South”, obviously the officer is NOT one of the unqualified EEOC/AA (diversity) hires so common “up North” that couldn’t hit a billboard five feet in front of him/her. Hooray for Texas!

    • “A very justified taxpayer relief shot.”

      “No trial, no report (well, only a relatively short one, at least at the time when that quote was first made) to file…”

      The character of ‘Inspector Harry Callahan’

  8. Just when I think the police couldn’t possibly be any dumber, they go and do something like this and TOTALLY REDEEM THEMSELVES! (cue missed high five)

  9. Nice shot. I was worried at first about the highway behind the perp, but if you watch in 1080p and at 0.25 speed, the cop had a clear shot and the hostage taker turned away from him while standing still. Nice commentary though. “You dead man, you dead.” Well, he earned it.

  10. Who’s the guy losing his mind that gets comforted by the woman? He seems extra mad. Did he get blood on his car? I couldn’t tell how he’s tied to this?

      • I saw a car where a guy killed himself with a 9mm to the head while sitting in the drivers seat. Once all the legalities were observed the car was sold to a scrap yard. A head shot, thru and thru, creates quite the gore fountain.

        I saw another car where the driver was murdered by a single gunshot wound to the chest. Killer was standing next to drivers window when he fired. Bullet went thru the body, the seat and lodged in the back passenger floorboards. Once all the legalities were observed the seat was replaced and the car sold.

  11. I don’t know what video you sheeple were watching. But the video I just saw shows a .gov sanctioned murder. The victim was on his knees trying to surrender when them jackbooted thugs murdered him and then hired an actor to play his “hostage”.

  12. It didn’t have to end that way, except that, of course it did. These violent criminals put themselves in these situations. They create these situations. They never think it’ll go down like this for them, as it has for so many of their peers, and yet it does. Poor decisions led to this result, but once in this situation, there weren’t many other options and outcomes left.

    • It didn’t have to start in the first place, but the man started it. I understand what you’re saying, but there is no rationalization with irrational people.

  13. Good job by everyone. The other cops kept him occupied. From that angle, you can’t tell what background the officer with the rifle had. Maybe not as dangerous and careless as it appears from the perspective of the guy recording.

  14. That is a great way to de-escalate the situation. One very brief, very instense escalation, and then permanent de-escalated.

    The guy filming twice said “he deserved it” at the very end of the video. Thinks that sums it up nicely.

  15. Man, 3,100 fps happens quick. Not sure if the human brain responds fast enough to know, for even a split second, that it got hit in a shot like this, or does it literally end instantly.

  16. The perp must of thought he was facing NYPD rather that a properly trained shooter.
    Nice free standing shooting.
    Saved taxpayers a at least $1M.

  17. I’m sure he was a great guy just turning his life around. His grieving family will no doubt sue the city and the police, as criminals always do.

  18. “The suspect rounded the corner and put the hostage into a car. At that moment, realizing the hostage’s life was in danger, the officers opened fire – striking and killing the suspect,” according to Irving police spokesman James McClellan.

    I think the spokesman meant to say…”“The suspect rounded the corner attempting to put the hostage into a car.”

    • Makes me curious, I wonder if an officer has his own patrol rifle, or just uses the one in the car? Back in the day, I would have had no worries at that distance with MY rifle, but if it was some sort of community rifle I would never have fired that close to a hostage.

      • Sure Larry, it probably was a “community rifle” the Irving Officer had to dig out from under the spare tire in the trunk. Too funny. Hate to break the news to you Larry, with the exception of small underfunded Podunk PD’s & SO’s, most Texas agencies either issue a patrol rifle to their officers or allow the carry of personally owned AR’s that must meet strict specs for duty carry. Additionally, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement mandates a patrol rifle training course as well as qualification with iron sights and separately with optics (which are usually Aimpoint, Eotech, & Trijicon) if the rifle is so equipped. Most of the larger well equipped and trained TX agencies like Irving PD not only qualify twice a year or more with patrol rifles, they also provide additional basic and advanced training separate from qualifications, you know, the sort of training cop hating imbeciles drawn to TTAG affectionately refer to as “militarization”. The Irving PD Officer who took care of business used a quality well maintained AR with a quality red dot optic, and more importantly, he knew how to use it.

  19. Not enough credit is given to our heroes in blue when decisions must be made. You may have taken a life, but you certainly saved the life of the hostage. In our time,the only thing that is for certain is uncertainty.

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