As the song says, it never rains in Southern California. Unless you’re talking about lead. “Eleven Los Angeles police officers fired more than 60 shots, fatally wounding an armed carjacking suspect in Koreatown at the end of a televised slow-speed pursuit on Thursday, police sources said.” The slow parade and shooting were filmed by an LAPD chopper hovering overhead. . .
The officers opened fire after the carjacker pointed a revolver at gas station customers. As you’d expect, the number of rounds fired raised a few eyebrows. From latimes.com:
But sources said the number of officers firing weapons is likely to be a focus of the Los Angeles Police Department investigation into the use of force, which is routine after every officer-involved shooting. In addition to the department’s force investigation division, the district attorney’s officer shooting team and the Police Commission’s inspector general are investigating the shooting, as is standard practice.
A variety of factors will be examined, including whether bystanders or officers were potentially in danger because so many officers were firing weapons, the sources said. The investigation will also evaluate the chase and the large number of patrol cars involved.
But it seems that LA’s finest are more scrupulous about their firearms training than their brothers in, say, New York. Because despite the barrage of bullets, only the suspect was struck and the terrified gas station owner’s car that was less than a foot away was untouched by errant lead. An amazing exhibition of shooting for such a high-stress situation.
Good work on the part of the LAPD and its training cadre.Now we must hope that the suits do not snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Looking at the Video (filmed by K-Cal9 not LAPD). IMHO…This was death by cop. You can see this 22 year old Kid get hit, slump and then actually push himself back into the line of fire. Tragic but LAPD did what they had to I think. The family watched this chase/shooting live not knowing it was their Son/Brother until later. The report explained that He’d been fighting depression for years over some incident in his past that he couldn’t come to grips with.
Suicide by cop, you mean?
That was a perfect shoot. No one hit but the suspect. Everyone of the officers deserve a medal.
Of course the owner of the car will need windows, bodywork and a new set of seats.
I must say bravo LAPD, one scumbag dead and NO bi-standers hit, no gas pumps seem to have been hit. That is some good marksmanship right there. Maybe if the NYPD’s glock’s didn’t have a 12# trigger you might see the NYPD hit ratio go above 10%.
Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance. When eleven officers all hit what they’re aiming at, under stress and in the heat of the moment, you know it wasn’t just luck or individual talent. That reflects well on the whole institution and its training program.
60 rounds into a car-sized target at ten yards or less is not great marksmanship. Any one of us should be able to do the same with ease. Stress? Well sure, if the BG was shooting back, but I don’t think he fired his weapon. In any case, extolling the “marksmanship” shows how little accuracy we’ve come to expect from the police.
Like SkyMan77 noted, this sure looked like suicide by cop. All things considered, this shooting was clearly justified, and a potentially very dangerous guy who had already jacked two cars that day was stopped before he could kill someone.
60 rounds into a car-sized target at ten yards or less is not great marksmanship. Any one of us should be able to do the same with ease. Stress? Well sure, if the BG was shooting back, but I don’t think he fired his weapon. In any case, extolling the “marksmanship” shows how little accuracy we’ve come to expect from the police.
*************************************************************
They were not shooting at the vehicle, but a seated occupant inside of it at a gas station with non-combatants near the scene. The only factor this lethal force situation has in common with a static gun range is that the officers were using firearms.Had the police been on the level of the civilians I see at the range, there would be two bystanders with bullet wounds and an injured criminal drawing breath on the taxpayers dime.
Hint: Police are “civilians”, just like the rest of us proles.
Thank you. They aren’t enlisted in the armed forces.
I always thought that was weird while I was enlisted. There was one time while I was hanging around some cops and they referred to me and some friends as “civilians” when we’re the ones in the military. I understand this though
They were not shooting at the vehicle, but a seated occupant inside
Unless they hit him 60 times, their marksmanship sucked. And if they had hit him 60 times, they would have taken his body out of the car with spoons.
Ralph if you’ve ever been in a shooting, the stress starts long before any weapons are drawn. The fact that the BG didn’t shoot back is moot. The key is to drop him BEFORE he can shoot back.
Why do I need more than 10 rounds in my magazine California? Same reason the cops needed 60.
You shoot until the threat stops, and when you eleven officers, that’s less than 6 shots per officer into someone that’s pointing a gun at innocent bystanders. In the heat of the moment, there’s probably no way to tell if the other officers have it covered or not, and when someone has a gun pointed at another person, better a few more bullets safe than a few too bullets sorry. Rarely a fan of the use of deadly force by police officers, but this seems to be as legitimate as it gets.
They will tell us to stop shooting when threat ceases, typically at the trial stage, but the threat ceases for them when the slide locks to the rear.
Okay, I’m ready to be flamed here, but let me share this thought…
Those of us out here is sheep-land tend to think of the sheepdogs as protectors who, in exchange for various forms of monetary and other compensation, choose to stand between us and the wolves. But in that exchange, we expect them to accept a certain amount of risk and carry-out their duties with a degree of self-discipline. Drawing your weapon and firing at the slightest hint of risk is something I think I could manage to do on my own. I don’t think I need to pay a highly trained and fairly well compensated officer to do that for me. It occurs to me that to some degree, this case, and the case of Amadu Dialo in NYC years back reveal a certain degree of trigger-happiness.
Maybe I expect far too much, but then on the other hand, I truly do need to be able to defend myself.
Keep in mind the so termed “sheepdog” has more than their own necks to look out for, especially in this situation. A civilian carries a weapon primarily to protect himself and his family as the situation requires.
If an active shooter goes through my workplace, I have the option to leave the scene armed or not .Should I encounter the perp ill take care of business, but I am under no obligation to step in front of bullets for anyone. Law Enforcement by contrast must step up to stop the threat regardless of their personal risk, which is what happened here. They had a guy cornered in a gas station armed with a pistol who refused to surrender. This was not a situation for kind words or flowery speeches;that guy had to either surrender or check out, and the latter is what happened.
Supreme court rules police are not required to protect you
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/politics/28scotus.html …………”The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the police did not have a constitutional duty to protect a person from harm, …………….”
= False “Law Enforcement by contrast must step up to stop the threat regardless of their personal risk, which is what happened here. “
Frank H, you should be ready, willing and able to defend yourself. But sometimes, it takes more than one person. In any case, this looked like a justified shooting to me.
I agree the shooting is completely justifiable. Its just the number of shots fired is abnormal for such situations. As long as the officers are accurate, I don’t care if 100 shots had been fired.
Yeah, it was a lot of shots, but over in just a few seconds. And in those few seconds, I doubt that any of the officers involved was counting their partners shots in addition to their own. Looked good to me, and I’m VERY glad that no one else was hurt considering the close proximity of innocent bystsanders.
I understand where it’s coming from, but I’m dumbstruck that anyone has anything but praise for the officers who conducted themselves professionally, with skill, at personal risk, and with the sure knowledge they’d get a colonoscopy from ingrates upset that they were forced to put this sad young man down.
Cops are not machines, yet some snivel that they should be–all while bemoaning the legalistic nature that has descended upon our men in blue.
This was not the outcome they wanted. It was forced upon them.
Fine. The cops are our friends. Moving on now . . . .
The number appears to be high only because the number of officers involved. Once the suspect made his move, their training takes over, shoot until the threat is no longer a threat. Since they all fired pretty much at the same time, it doesn’t take that long for 60 shots to get fired. And there are 11 officers that fired.
Lots of paperwork for all those involved, even those officers that didn’t draw their weapon, but was part of the pursuit. And for those officer that fired, even more paperwork and interview by IA (normal procedures).
In my experience of a high-stress situation requiring the drawing and firing of a weapon, 6 rounds from a 9mm pistol takes approximately 2 seconds. Fire less and you probably stopped shooting before ascertaining that the bad guy was out of commission. UNLESS you saw a hollywood-style head explosion with your first round. But that would mean you probably still launched 3 rounds down the pipe.
Send them to NY to teach those guys how to shoot.