28 Rounds fired - Police can't hit "shooter's" bull's-eye on chest

Knoxville News-Sentinel ^ | September 30, 2003 | JAMIE SATTERFIELD

[Russian Sage]

Bull's-eye shooter's hearing delayed for psych exam

By JAMIE SATTERFIELD, satterfield@knews.com

September 30, 2003

A Knox County judge delayed a hearing Monday to allow a psychiatric evaluation of a man authorities contend painted a bull's-eye symbol on his chest to goad deputies into killing him.

Thomas Martin McGouey, 51, appeared in Knox County General Sessions Court for a preliminary hearing on charges of aggravated assault and public intoxication.

McGouey was arrested Sept. 17, one day after six Knox County Sheriff's Office deputies opened fired on him, shooting 28 times and striking McGouey once in the shoulder outside his Walker Springs Road apartment.

Sheriff Tim Hutchison has told WBIR-TV that McGouey wanted to die, evidenced by the bull's-eye the sheriff contended McGouey painted on his chest.

McGouey, a thin, graying man who wears glasses and has tattoos on both arms, has been behind bars since his arrest. Monday was his first scheduled court appearance. ...

McGouey allegedly brandished a weapon while in the parking lot of Woodlands West apartments Sept. 16, prompting six deputies to fire at him. Hutchison has said the weapon was a pellet gun. Authorities allege McGouey was suicidal.

[Russian Sage]

No doubt they were aiming for the shoulder all along.

[TopQuark]

No doubt they were aiming for the shoulder all along. Yes, and probably not even his but someone else's shoulder.

[TopQuark]

No doubt they were aiming for the shoulder all along. Yes, and probably not even his but someone else's shoulder.

[Ken522]

I bet the police just wanted to scare Mr. McGouey.

[BenLurkin]

"Bummer of a birthmark, Hal",

[SauronOfMordor]

I belong to a gun range that allows cops to use the pistol range for their annual qualifications. I really think most cops do not fire their guns except at the yearly qualifier

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

I took my Concealed Handgun course with five other guys. The only one in the six that failed the shooting portion was a former Houston cop.

[jim_trent]

We had a guy who had a standoff with police several years ago in a small bedroom community south of where I live. Lasted several hours. The neighborhood was evacuated and police from every surrounding area joined in. There were about 100 of them. He came out the front with a handgun and started pointing it at the police out front. They started shooting and fired somewhere between 200 and 300 rounds (I forget the exact amount, but it was a LOT). Almost all were handgun, but a few were from shotgun. No rifles that I can remember. Anyway, the guy died. When they had an autopsy, they found that not one single handgun bullet hit him. He died from a single shotgun blast. They had a picture of the front of the house and it was totally destroyed. I REALLY wonder if they were trying to hit him or if they were shooting around him and hoping someone else would kill him.

[GeronL]

six Knox County Sheriff's Office deputies opened fired on him, shooting 28 times and striking McGouey once in the shoulder

????????what the hey????? My 9 year old neice can do better with water gun

[GeronL]

yearly?? Cops should be made to spend at least an hour per month at the range, IMO

[umgud]

I wonder what the range was? When I took my CCW, you would fail with results like that. I'll bet the round that hit him was a flyer.........

[Cloud William]

"Bummer of a birthmark, Hal."

Ah, surely one of Gary Larson's better pieces of work. :-)

[GeronL]

OK, fire them and put those Boy Scouts into uniforms

[BenLurkin]

I have heard that the LAPD refers to this technique as "Spray and Pray".

[Lazamataz]

We had a guy who had a standoff with police several years ago in a small bedroom community south of where I live. Lasted several hours. The neighborhood was evacuated and police from every surrounding area joined in. There were about 100 of them. He came out the front with a handgun and started pointing it at the police out front. They started shooting and fired somewhere between 200 and 300 rounds (I forget the exact amount, but it was a LOT). Almost all were handgun, but a few were from shotgun. No rifles that I can remember. Anyway, the guy died. When they had an autopsy, they found that not one single handgun bullet hit him. He died from a single shotgun blast. They had a picture of the front of the house and it was totally destroyed. I REALLY wonder if they were trying to hit him or if they were shooting around him and hoping someone else would kill him.

When soldiers were debriefed after the Civil War had ended, a large percentage of them admitted they fired high or low so as to miss. The human being usually needs to be retrained in order to willingly kill. The process is somewhat long (approximately 6 weeks) and is very intensive. It is employed at all modern boot camps, and began when the Federals realized what had happened in the Civil War.

Police do not get this sort of 'williness to kill' training, and usually for good reason. I am not at all surprised that these sort of high-miss ratios are thusly achieved. It really makes no sense that ALL of those police were THAT bad.

[Billthedrill]

...wonder what the range was?

In an earlier version of this story the range was described as between 40 and 75 feet. He was coming at the officers waving a pellet gun.

It's weird to see this story - I was at the range today with a pair of Glocks (models 19 and 22) that were very likely identical to the duty guns of at least some of the shooters. I shot an IPSC silhouette at those exact ranges. All I can say is that it wasn't coming at me with a gun in its hand, which takes the pucker factor up astronomically, and if we've never been in that situation we cannot properly judge it. But good grief, they HAVE to learn to shoot better than that. If he had had a real gun he could have casually potted the lot of them.

[Russian Sage]

I REALLY wonder if they were trying to hit him or if they were shooting around him and hoping someone else would kill him.

It must be real hard to shoot at a live person and who knows what the range was. But this appears to be in a residential neighborhood and those missed shots go somewhere. What are the police policies on taking hard shots?

[GeronL]

They had a picture of the front of the house and it was totally destroyed

I think I remember that photo, or one like it

[GeronL]

I'll just have to keep repeating to myself "Than God for the Second Amendment"

I also assume that if he had a hostage or was hurting someone or about to shoot someone that they quickly start aiming properly.

[Shooter 2.5]

Bang