NYPD: 9 shooting bystander victims hit by police gunfire

Fox News ^ | 8-25-2012 | AP

[servo1969]

NEW YORK – All nine people wounded during a dramatic confrontation between police and a gunman outside the Empire State Building were struck by bullets fired by the two officers, police said Saturday, citing ballistics evidence.

The veteran patrolmen who opened fire on the suit-wearing gunman, Jeffrey Johnson, had only an instant to react when he whirled and pointed a .45-caliber pistol as they approached him from behind on a busy sidewalk.

Officer Craig Matthews shot seven times. Officer Robert Sinishtaj fired nine times, police said. Neither had ever fired their weapons before on a patrol.

The volley of gunfire felled Johnson in just a few seconds and left nine other people bleeding on the sidewalk.

[servo1969]

Good shoot?

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[Travis McGee]

And they say we mere untrained civilians are not qualified to carry firearms.

[UB355]

I’m no marksman but on a scale of 1 to 10 how do these officers rate ?

[kiryandil]

The veteran patrolmen who opened fire on the suit-wearing gunman, Jeffrey Johnson, had only an instant to react when he whirled and pointed a .45-caliber pistol as they approached him from behind on a busy sidewalk.

What a load.

The guy didn't look like he could shoot his way out of a wet paper bag. When he drew his piece, he was holding it just above waist level, and kind of pointing it, instead of aiming it, and he was sort of limp-wristed about it, too.

The cops lost it.

[SkyPilot]

Yeah, so our cops shot them. So what? I told you guns were bad - that's why only the 'professionals' should have them. Oh, and might I add that none of the citizens shot had any 16 oz drinks loaded with sugar - and that probably saved their lives.

[The_Reader_David]

Sounds like New York’s finest could use some brushing up on the use of deadly force.
Seven and nine shots? What happened to the “double tap”? Or even two center body-mass and one to the head if the first two don’t drop the target? Is this not taught in police academies any more?

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

I assume everyone involved was white. Otherwise it would have been construed as a racist incident.

[kiryandil]

I’m no marksman but on a scale of 1 to 10 how do these officers rate ?

A 2, and they should be at least a 6 or a 7 to be carrying in a heavily populated area.

[Jim from C-Town]

No kidding. In all the NON-POLICE training I have had for IDPA and CCW Classes, it is stressed two shots in the mid section. Pop-Pop, FINGER OFF TRIGGER! Two shots from a nine millimeter center mass with hollow point loads will STOP even a large man.

These guys over reacted and panicked and they cost NINE people serious wounds and a great deal of pain. So much for everyday hero's.

[sten]

i dunno

16 shots hitting 9 moving targets...

those are some mad skillz

/sarc

[TangoLimaSierra]

The salient point: they were 8 feet from him and hit 9 other people.

[kiryandil]

The salient point: they were 8 feet from him and hit 9 other people.

Exactly.

[LFOD]

About a minus 3 or 4.

Definitely a panic shoot with nary an ounce of stress-fire training.

Trillions of dollars into “homeland” security and buttoning down NYC and this is an end result of the quality of performance training.

Sleep well America.

Go ahead - flame away.

[LFOD]

If you’ve ever had the occasion to shoot any living thing, let alone a human, unless you can turn the lights out with one in the brainpan, the target simply does not instantly stop most times.

However.......from eight feet and wounding nine others...
Of course NY cops I bet are almost never exposed to stress such as scenario based IDPA, IPSC - USPSA type action shooting.

Unless they have been actively involved in combat, IDPA, IPSC or USPSA a once a year static qualification on a stationary paper target is woefully inadequate - as the results in this shooting have demonstrated.

[houeto]

The salient point: they were 8 feet from him and hit 9 other people.

8 ft.? Really? WOW! Sounds to me like they were just ducking, dodging and pulling the crap out of their triggers!

[TurboZamboni]

this guy wasn’t there to train those silly civilians

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmRN00KbCr8

[MasterGunner01]

NYPD cops have always had a lousy reputation as marksmen. Jeff Cooper told a story about the three NYPD cops chasing a bad guy that wound up in a race across roof tops. The bad guy fired six shots at the cops and missed. The cops fired a total of 33 rounds at the bad guy and missed. They finally caught him when he tried to jump the gap between buildings and didn't quite make it.

[KarlInOhio]

16 rounds fired with 10 bullet wounds to Johnson and 9 other people hit by bullets or fragments. 19 hits (at least) for 16 shots is pretty darn efficient. < /s>

[donozark]

NYPD fired 41 shots at unarmed Amadou Diallo...