Mumbai photographer: I wish I'd had a gun, not a camera. Armed police would not fire back

Belfast Telegraph ^ | 29 November 2008 | Jerome Taylor

[Leisler]

gunman walks at the Chatrapathi Sivaji Terminal railway station in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008. Teams of gunmen stormed luxury hotels, a popular restaurant, hospitals and a crowded train station in coordinated attacks across India's financial capital, killing people, taking Westerners hostage and leaving parts of the city under siege Thursday, police said. A group of suspected Muslim militants claimed responsibility. AP

[Leisler]

I'm thinking back to the Muslim in Utah that opened fire in the Mall and a couple of off duty LEO’s took him on.

(Did I say ‘Muslim’? I meant “a youth” and also a victim of gun violence. My bad.)

[omega4179]

Many Cops don’t like to risk their pension just to save others.

[Republic of Texas]

I doubt any local police force would stand up against what was basically a Special Op’s force. There were brave Indians who gave their lives to stop this attack, they acted with courage, and the political leadership acted faster than the US government would have. We’d still be negotiating and sending in donuts.

[gaijin]

“There were armed policemen hiding all around the station but none of them did anything,” he said.

MIGHT AS WELL BE COLUMBINE...! **2nd Amendment..!**

[Enchante]

UNBELIEVABLE......do they not have real bullets or was it pure cowardice that so many Mumbai police officers would not engage? Pure panic and fear, a sense that "if I don't fire at them then maybe they'll ignore ME"??? Why would armed police officers pass up the chance to take out terrorists busy shooting down so many innocent people???

But what angered Mr D'Souza almost as much were the masses of armed police hiding in the area who simply refused to shoot back. "There were armed policemen hiding all around the station but none of them did anything," he said. "At one point, I ran up to them and told them to use their weapons. I said, 'Shoot them, they're sitting ducks!' but they just didn't shoot back."

[Frantzie]

The photographer was a brave man. The Indian cops are obviously a joke and are cowards. The same thing happened at Columbine where the cops waited outside for the shooting to stop.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Sebastian D'Souza, a picture editor at the Mumbai Mirror, whose offices are just opposite the city's Chhatrapati Shivaji station, heard the gunfire erupt and ran towards the terminus.

Any relation to Dinesh D'Souza?

[jwalsh07]

I’m looking at that picture and wondering why the guy is still vertical. Then I read the story. Oyvey.

[Ciexyz]

To be fair, none of us knows how we would react when confronted with a situation like this.

[definitelynotaliberal]

That’s Mohandas Gandhi’s (no Mahatma, he) non-violence come home not to roost, but to rot.

[Keith Brown]

“To be fair, none of us knows how we would react when confronted with a situation like this.”

Actually, many of us do.

But I understand your sentiment.

[redstateconfidential]

None of us who aren’t “trained” LEOs you mean?

[definitelynotaliberal]

You’re wrong. We do definitely know how we would react. If we had any doubts before, Todd Beamer reminded us that we would know. We would try to call our loved ones, we would pray and we would act.

[Leisler]

A better example would be at West Virgina Tech.

[Mamzelle]

Were they under orders not to shoot?

[Balding_Eagle]

I doubt any local police force would stand up against what was basically a Special Op’s force. At Columbine, they abandoned school children and teachers, all unarmed, to a couple of teenage gunmme.

Thank God no police were hurt, only children and teachers killed. It could have been a tragedy.

[Leisler]

I’d like to think I would of bought, talked or fought the gun off the officer.

[GBA]

How could you witness a slaughter like that and not want to shoot back? Were the “cops” who wouldn't shoot back muslims, too? Just curious...

[RightWhale]

none of us knows how we would react

Perhaps, but proper police are trained and would do something.