Saturday, January 26, 2013

Meanwhile, Back at the Qualification Range ...


I couldn't not speak to this one ...

Last Sunday, somebody called in a domestic disturbance in Forest Grove, OR. The husband in question was a Forest Grove police officer, and apparently known enough so there was some concern; whoever took the call sent plenty of help: Five Forest Grove officers, four deputies from the county, and–if I recall correctly–an officer from nearby Hillsboro.

It went askew. The officer involved in the disturbance, Timothy Cannon, took umbrage at the interference. Hard to say exactly what got said by whom, but apparently if it was "I'm on the job, so fuck off!" that didn't do the trick.

The argument progressed. The hardware came out. The suspect fired a weapon–doesn't say what it was–didn't hit anybody, and the ten officers returned fire.

They mostly didn't hit anybody, either. 

In the ensuing gunfight, the suspect was wounded, though not much, given that he was able to stand for his booking photo after he was treated and released by the hospital.

One of the deputies had a shrapnel wound to one hand. Cannon was subdued–and not gently, to judge from the photo–taken in, and currently resides the local lock-up on charges of Attempted Aggravated Murder, in lieu of a million dollar bail.

Now, if you have been here before, you know where this going:

A total of eleven LEOs fired their weapons. Doesn't say how may rounds, but each apparently managed at least one apiece. (Kind of stretched Forest Grove PD thin, given the one busted and the five on administrative duty because they shot their weapons.)

And what we have to show for it is one wound to the suspect and a cut from a ricochet?

Somebody needs to spend more time on the range. Sounds like something from a Max Sennett movie out of Keystone Studios ... 

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Forty shots rang out ...
Forty people fell ...
Cow Patti and the killer missed each other
But they shot that town to Hell.
Yippee-i-ayyy, Cow Patti."
- Jim Stafford

Jim said...

I know you know this... but there's a whole lot involved in that one. Range time, once the basics are down, doesn't have a lot to do with how you shoot under actual pressure, and that's before we even get into the whole dynamic of firing at a buddy.

(What's really sad is that you just put a spotlight on a training hole or glitch for me... which means I know something I have to work on.)

Steve Perry said...

Yep, that whole hormone storm and tunneling and time shifting. And yet, there are people who get past it. You'd think that somewhere, somebody would examine those folks, find out what they have in common, and try to train it.

I know some of the new scenario training vids and computer stuff seems to help.

Anonymous said...

Yep. The Australian police force, throughout all the states, exhibits a similar chronic inability to hit what they (seem to) aim at.

It's not easy to hit a target with a handgun, especially if it's moving and/or if the adrenaline and testosterone is surging—and if the training and psychological preparation for this kind of confrontation is woefully inadequate. Which it is almost everywhere for the common-ruck police, mainly because of (and this has been revealed here in Australia by several whistleblowers)...wait for it, even though you know the answer...MONEY.

Thing is, the common-ruck police are the ones who need it most, if only for the sake of the safety of innocent bystanders.

Nowadays in Australia they often taser people, of course—and kill them, especially when six cops chase down a somewhat LSD drugged foreign student like a pack of wolves and then zap him, between them, almost thirty times.

Cops with guns and tasers at their hips scare the shits out of me. Psychological and physical incompetence mixed with the license to use lethal weapons...

Ed said...

At least - I guess - he didn't have anyone around him....they might have been in trouble. Looks like his "beater shirt" didn't make it thru the ensuing tussle....maybe given a Hillsboro Police Dept t-shirt for his picture....not great advertising.