Posted on 12/08/2018 5:47:13 AM PST by BenLurkin
When Ventura County Sheriff's Sgt. Ron Helus and a California Highway Patrol officer responded to a shooting last month in Thousand Oaks, Calif., they faced a barrage of gunfire from a suspect.
But officials announced Friday that the sergeant's fatal wound was a result of a shot fired by his fellow law enforcement officer.
Helus, a 29-year veteran of his department, was one of 12 people killed at the Borderline Bar and Grill on Nov. 7 when a gunman fired more than 50 rounds into the crowd from a .45 caliber Glock semi-automatic pistol.
Five bullets traceable to the suspect's weapon were found during Helus' autopsy, according to Ventura County's chief medical examiner Christopher Young.
"These bullets caused serious injuries, but potentially survivable injuries," Young said. But it was a sixth bullet – one that entered Helus' chest and struck his heart – that proved fatal. "Ultimately, this was the most severe injury sustained," Young said. That bullet was determined by FBI experts to have come from the CHP officer's rifle. Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub described the situation that night as chaotic and confusing.
"People were running through the parking lot and jumping through windows to escape," Ayub said. "Many were visibly bleeding from injuries received while escaping the bar. Shots could be heard as the law enforcement officers bravely approached the front of the business."
A heavy burden to bear for the CHP officer.
So sorry for both officers.
I grew up in TO.
The Borderline is massive and very dark. The killer threw smoke bombs.
Brave and dutiful officers. Sad information. They did what they had to do.
Bummer. This doesn’t sound like any more than an act of bravery by all officers involved and an unavoidable accident caused while trying to take down a dangerous POS.
This thread should get interesting
Normally I would scrutinize indiscriminate shootings by LEO, But that scene was a war zone. Deaths and injuries from friendly fire in a war zone are much more common than one would think. It’s the nature of the beast.
Not nearly as big a burden as the guy he killed
Friendly fire is never acceptable! The LEO should have identified the target—which he did not! He broke a fundamental rule in firing a weapon.
Are there bad shootings?
YES!
Are they covered up?
YES!
That said, methinks you protest a bit too much.
Hopefully very few have to make the jump from comfortable suburban life into the seventh circle of hell.
Yes, I have been to the 7th circle, but kind of worked my way in.
Still, the transition was extreme, beyond description.
Much of it my own brain tends to deny.
Some never recover, ever.
I have been in a circumstance like this before and it is always possible. Communications are not always right and when you have so many with weapons it doesn’t take much. Most every department unless it is changed has different communication channels. Of course it may have changed I have been retired 25 years.
Keep in mind it was a RIFLE. It may very well have passed through the intended target first. A rifle round can go through three bodies before finally coming to a stop. It can hit bone and change trajectory and continue on to go through a second body.
There needs to be more detail about the trajectory before this can be rightfully judged as an accident or neglect.
Only cops should have guns
/s
Lowlife. They were both better men than you.
Watch the Antifa protests in Seattle and Portland, last weekend. These are LITERALLY, just down the street.
The thugs with a badge are indistinguishable from the thugs waving the flags.
Go ahead. Defend them.
Have a history with law enforcement? If not, I predict a change.......twit.
Have you ever trained in a shoot house filled with smoke and with the lights out?
They even nail their own. Totally undisciplined firing.
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