Posted on 11/29/2008 11:17:52 AM PST by Leisler
It is the photograph that has dominated the world's front pages, casting an astonishing light on the fresh-faced killers who brought terror to the heart of India's most vibrant city. Now it can be revealed how the astonishing picture came to be taken by a newspaper photographer who hid inside a train carriage as gunfire erupted all around him.
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. "I ran into the first carriage of one of the trains on the platform to try and get a shot but couldn't get a good angle, so I moved to the second carriage and waited for the gunmen to walk by," he said. "They were shooting from waist height and fired at anything that moved. I briefly had time to take a couple of frames using a telephoto lens. I think they saw me taking photographs but theydidn't seem to care."
The gunmen were terrifyingly professional, making sure at least one of them was able to fire their rifle while the other reloaded. By the time he managed to capture the killer on camera, Mr D'Souza had already seen two gunmen calmly stroll across the station concourse shooting both civilians and policemen, many of whom, he said, were armed but did not fire back. "I first saw the gunmen outside the station," Mr D'Souza said. "With their rucksacks and Western clothes they looked like backpackers, not terrorists, but they were very heavily armed and clearly knew how to use their rifles.
"Towards the station entrance, there are a number of bookshops and one of the bookstore owners was trying to close his shop," he recalled. "The gunmen opened fire and the shopkeeper fell down."
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."
As the gunmen fired at policemen taking cover across the street, Mr D'Souza realised a train was pulling into the station unaware of the horror within. "I couldn't believe it. We rushed to the platform and told everyone to head towards the back of the station. Those who were older and couldn't run, we told them to stay put."
The militants returned inside the station and headed towards a rear exit towards Chowpatty Beach. Mr D'Souza added: "I told some policemen the gunmen had moved towards the rear of the station but they refused to follow them. What is the point if having policemen with guns if they refuse to use them? I only wish I had a gun rather than a camera."
I don’t doubt that. But we are talking about what amounts to Security Guards at a train station in India. Poorly trained, and paid. Not the same thing.
You are absolutely right. When Columbine was going down I caught it live and saw the neat lines of SWAT doing nothing. Being active LEO (at the time) I was screaming at the TV, "GO INSIDE THE BUILDING!!"
Yet, our brave SF and spec. ops teams went in Granada with hand-drawn and inaccurate tourist maps, bad comm and didn't hesitate to make contact and do battle with the enemy.
SWAT is no different, they are to seek out and if necessary destroy, they wanted the neat militarized gear and goodies, now USE IT! Same with any beat cop, you've got the training and the deadly force, when the chips are down USE IT! I'm always armed and my mindset is, "what if, what if...", keeps you thinking and looking at objects not as buildings and furniture but cover and firing positions.
That would be Virginia Tech.
True.
Which raises a question. Why are cops militarized? Why do they refer to their fellow citizens as ‘civilians’? Why do they have military rank?
Why did we have a Sheriff system and why did we create at the end of the 1800’s a Police system?
If not military, who are the militarized cops military to?
From the description, these were not trained commandos. Reason? They were firing from the waist and the death toll would have been much higher.
I’m not going to compare Cops in India guarding a train station to LA Cops or the FBI. They aren’t as well trained, they aren’t as well paid, they aren’t as well led. There is no comparison. These were soft targets for a reason. The Indian Army showed it’s mettle, and I was glad to see it.
Let's go up against guys known to be shooters, killers that like shotguns and assault type weapons.......with pistols.
Firing from the waist is a longtime terrorist tactic. Why? You hit people who are standing, falling and kneeling. More casualties. They are there to put two in the chest and one in the head.
The cops probably had little or no ammo. Sorta like being on gaurd duty at the motor pool when I was in the army. Rifle and pistol but no ammo. When we were at the ammo dump on gaurd duty we got three rounds each.
“Let’s Roll!” bump
Thanks.
Meant to say they AREN'T THERE...
I remember that.
A muslim savage did shoot and kill a bunch of innocent civilians during Valentine's Day shopping. It was February 13, 2007, and it was Salt Lake City, Utah.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54247
You know what the problem is now? The usual suspects all over the world are studying this.
Hollywood incident: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Hollywood_shootout
The Wiki page does not note that officers ran into a local gun shop to obtain AR-15 type rifles and other high powered arms to try to keep the bad guys bottled up.
http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-237519.html
Miami incident: http://www.thegunzone.com/11april86.html
Effin cowards.
Next time the terrorists will probably wear Kevlar like the Hollywood bank robbers. I’m surprised they weren’t wearing it for this mission.
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