Posted on 06/24/2016 7:56:14 AM PDT by HomerBohn
Orlando, FL The testimony of a Belle Isle police officer was given this week allowing for the first public account of what happened inside the Pulse nightclub earlier this month. Officer Brandon Cornwells account of what happened could explain why the death toll was so high they were told to stand down and not to pursue the shooter.
According to Cornwell, he was one of the first seven officers on the scene. After hearing reports of shots fired, Cornwell was at the nightclub only 38 seconds later.
Some ran towards the building, some stayed back with people running out, he said. There was tons of people running out of the club. I grabbed my assault rifle and ran toward the club. At this point, the shooter is still actively shooting inside.
Within only two minutes, Cornwell and approximately six other officers had broken a large window and entered the club.
There happens to be an OPD lieutenant commander who was there, and he says weve got to go in, said Cornwell. No one disagreed. One of the officers busted out one of those side windows it was approximately 10 feet tall and we just went in and went from there.
Cornwell said Mateen was nowhere to be seen. The club was dim lit with a disco ball and colored lights and quiet except for the sound of the shooters gunfire, screams, and cries for help, Cornwell said as reported by MSN.
At that point, he said, we took up a tactical position by the bar standpoint in the middle of the club.
He was actively shooting, he said. I cant say if he was targeting us. But he was still shooting in that location where he was at. There were bullet holes in the wall, so he had shot through the wall. But I couldnt tell you if he was shooting at us.
Cornwell recalled getting orders not to pursue the shooter, hold their position and wait for SWAT. It would take SWAT a long time to respond.
Cornwell explained that he and the other officers obeyed the orders not to stop Mateen, and they held their position for 15 or 20 minutes couldve been longer until the SWAT team arrived.
Cornwall described hearing gunshots and screams for help as they sat there waiting for SWAT.
When he asked if he wanted to disobey the order to stand down and try to stop Mateen, Cornwell said he had to follow orders. I couldnt tell you. I was following lieutenants command, he said.
We got word from higher up, and it was communicated to the OPD lieutenant that we needed to withdraw, he said. So we came back outside. And waited for SWAT. SWAT arrived. SWAT handled everything from there.
According to MSN, Cornwell and his fellow officers early standoff with the shooter the second of three encounters between law enforcement and Mateen over more than three hours Sunday morning is being scrutinized by the Florida Department of Law Enforcements Public Integrity Squad along with the other police encounters with the shooter. None of the officers involved have spoken publicly.
A former cop and expert on active-shooter response told Politico that protocol developed after the shootings at Columbine High School in 1999 dictates that once two or more cops are on the scene, they should go after the shooter.
After the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, law enforcement realized active shooters have to be stopped quickly, not bargained with or given time. That realization gave rise to whats called the Active Shooter response protocol, which basically says that once two police officers are on scene at an active shooting, they should go get the shooter, Chris Grollneck told the news site.
The information released thus far into police response in Orlando will lead to a jarring conclusion, Grollneck said.
It will tell you the leadership of the Orlando Police Department failed the people inside the club, he said.
This gives new meaning to the phrase, “when seconds matter, the police are only minutes away.”
A case can certainly be made for this.
I'm pro-police but this is not acceptable. Even a soldier or LEO should know when given bad orders. No one knows the situation first hand like the soldier/LEO on the scene. I hope when the police are told to go after American citizens for some bad reason or another; they do the right thing and help those citizens instead of kill them. Soldiers and LEO's are not mindless droids with no conscience. They can and should think for themselves when given a bad or lawless order.
When seconds count, the police are just hours away.
Well, he had to have time to finish what he was doing. If they had stopped him prematurely, also referred to as doing their jobs, the gun grabbers would have not had any talking points.Once he had completed his task [purpose] the police were very efficient in disposing of him.
The Orlando PD responders were clearly operating under “Active Shooter” protocol (implemented nationally after the teacher at Columbine bled out), until they got the Stand Down order. Who gave that order and why needs to be pursued hard.
I’m wondering if cities accepting military weapons, ammo, gear and vehicles have to accept a little fine print that goes along with the “gift,” namely loss of local control.
Liberalism Kills.
Big government liberalism preaches that only the people specially trained by the State can use the necessary force to stop people with guns. The result of that thinking?
I had to fill out an HSPD-12 Background check, about 25 pages long, in order to work on site for NASA. However, with that background check, I cannot bring firearms, knives, any weapon whatsoever on-site. I am COMPLETELY defenseless in the face of an attacker. So, the government trains me to “RUN, HIDE, FIGHT” in case of an attacker.
Government policy is to let the police use force to stop the attacker. Call 9-1-1. Let the trained professionals stop the attacker.
That is drummed into our heads constantly.
And we become vulnerable, sitting ducks, unable to defend our self at all.
Yes, liberalism kills.
If soldiers and police didn’t follow bad orders the Nazis would have got nowhere.How many bad Swat raids happen in the US every year?How many police follow bad orders every day9usually involving revenue generation).How many police or others care more for their pension than freedom and Constitutional rights?
I fear that all too many police in America will be no different than the Gestapo or Stasi;just ask the Branch Davidians,Randy Weaver,anyone terrorized by “wrong address” Swat raids,anyone had their dog shot by Officer Unfriendly,blacks beaten unjustly by police in the 1960s anyone had their property and/or money taken through asset forfeiture without a criminal conviction,etc. ad nauseum.
The police are needed but they must always be watched closely lest they become a defacto standing army used by tyrants locally and nationally.
3 hours,
16 phone calls,
50 dead
And
As many injured.
Unbelievable.
I can imagine the families of the deceased will be lawyered-up big time for a law-suit, esp. with these latest revelations.
Fairly clear that somebody up top wanted a high body count and got it. They also wanted Omar to escape and were assisting him, but for some reason that did not occur.
WHY do I hear “Fast & Furious” operation in my head over this???
“A truly moral policeman would have disobeyed orders and stopped Mateen.”
“This is a scary example that the police will follow orders not do what is obviously right.”
“The police official giving the stand in place order should be charged with the deaths of all those who were killed or died for lack of help.”
Im wondering if cities accepting military weapons, ammo, gear and vehicles have to accept a little fine print that goes along with the gift, namely loss of local control.”
Interesting thought. Been my experience that every carrot from the government comes with a stick.
Police departments like “toys”. Citizens don’t want their tax money used to pay for them so if the government provides them for free that resolves the financial issue. Kind of like friends with benefits but government agencies are not your friends.
“This is a scary example that the police will follow orders not do what is obviously right.”
Yeah, think of gun confiscation! The only difference with gun confiscation is that the cops will get a lot of return fire so they will be thinking twice about obeying orders if disobediance is widespread as it is likely to be.
so, the largest USA mass shooting in recent history is due to police incompetence, not so called common sense gun control.
The mayor is a long-time Florida Democrat. Don’t know about police chief...
I knew it
I just cannot get past the horror of being trapped in a building with a terrorist with a rifle especially. The only good news is they smoked his ass.”
To the best of my ability I never go anywhere where I can’t do concealed carry. Can’t help but believe that had they continued their initial pursuit there would have been substantially fewer people killed. Understand that early on an activist was asking how many people had been killed by police bullets. Perhaps that is what those in charge were afraid of. IMO, until our leadership is able to voice that muslim/islam/terrorism are linked it will only get worse.
This is incredible.
If this were Donald Trump the media would be camped out on his doorstep and trying to get down his chimney to worm the truth out of him.
That she's getting away with one obfuscation after another boggles the mind.
The Obama justice system appointees are rotten and corrupt beyond belief.
Where's Big Mouth O'Reilly and Rush and others on this issue of non-transparency and outright lies rampant in the highest echelon of law-enforcement regarding Orlando?
Leni
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