Posted on 10/07/2005 9:53:06 AM PDT by linkinpunk
Today: October 07, 2005 at 9:50:28 PDT
Police Kill Armed Man, Hostage in Fla.
By MITCH STACY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Police officers shot and killed a man and the woman he was holding hostage after the suspect fired a shotgun at them, police said.
Officers responding to a witness report saw the armed man and the hostage inside a motel room, police spokesman Laura McElroy said. They heard a gunshot, and minutes later the man came out of the room with the woman.
"He has the woman in a headlock with the gun pointed at her head," McElroy said. "He spots an officer to his right, levels the shotgun at the officer and fires at the officer."
More than one officer shot at the man, killing him and wounding the woman, McElroy said. She died at a hospital hours later.
McElroy said the officers were forced to return fire to defend themselves, regardless of the hostage situation. She said the officers were "just sick" that an innocent person was killed.
"It's the last thing they wanted to do," she said.
The suspect, Gary T. Brewer, 45, had held another woman, his girlfriend, hostage at her condominium for hours beginning late Thursday, McElroy said. She broke away and called police, but Brewer fled before officers arrived.
Investigators were still trying to determine how Brewer knew the first woman.
The gunshot that came from inside the motel room hit a dog, which was wounded.
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Let's see now...what would you want them to do if you were the one with the shotgun to your head and you had been just sitting there, minding your own business"? Then some perp grabs you and when the cops show up he jacks a few rounds off at the cop. Now, you be the cop....tell me where they went wrong, and tell me that you could do it better. Then tell me why you are not doing it now!! You write that you have lost faith in the police, but they are a lot better than, say....lots of dead victims and dead children...huh?Shame on you!
See my post #18.
But also consider that being a police officer these days, is a dangerous, low-paid, and largely thankless job. We should be protecting police by following a much more aggressive shoot-to-kill-without-delay policy for obvious criminals in the process of committing a crime. Until that's the policy, I'm amazed we have as many/good police officers as we have, even with all the "protect yourself" training and policies.
>>>It seems that modern police training is teaching cops that their own protection is more important than the hostages in these situations. That is unacceptable to me.>>>
I agree 100%. I got blasted on that thread with the child for being upset at the death of the child. Seems people have the attitude, "shoot at a cop, all bets are off and if you're a hostage you are SOL". Bull. I'm for cops protecting themselves, but not at the expense of the innocent. The police have bullet proof vests, the hostages generally don't even have that much protection. Yes, we can BLAME the hostage taker all day long, doesn't bring back the innocent. In the case of that child, I was FURIOUS. Seems to me the action lately is "Hostage taker acts like or shoots AT a cop, open fire killing all in sight.".
The best SWAT and Special Forces operatives will spend more time on the range in a month than most of us spend in a lifetime. They also go through thousands of dollars of ammo in a typical month.
i want a job doing this!!
Any bets on how long this perps rap sheet is? I'll bet there is a Judge to blame more than the cops.
Yep, and any city that had their cops practicing that much would have to spend more money on the police department to make it happen. That would mean the mayor's brother-in-law would need to find a real job with actual work involved.
The bottom line is that most cops know enough about their weapon to put the shots in the general direction they need to go -- under good conditions.
An aimed shot under fire? Ha! Might as well wish for Santa Claus to defuse the situation.
"being a police officer these days, is a dangerous, low-paid, and largely thankless job
This is bull. Modern policing is the safest non-office job you can get. Cops in my home town start at $65K a year and as for thankless, the cops can TOTALLY screw up and half of the folks on FR will STILL sing their praises.
It may be a comfy job in nice suburbs, but in big cities it is most certainly not.
I bought a used police Colt Diamondback about 25 years ago. It had a lot of holster wear and the bluing was almost completely gone, however, the barrel had virtually no internal wear at all. A lot of police officers only make it to the range a couple of times a year and then the range doesn't provide much training value for real world situations.
I used to go to the range with a guy who had worked for the Secret Service. He would go through two hundred rounds just going from a low-ready stance to firing double-taps. After that he would go through another couple hundred rounds doing strong hand, weak hand, snap shots, and long range work. He was very dedicated. Most cops don't have the time or inclination to spend their time off at the range. At 10 bucks a box, you can burn through a hundred bucks worth of 45 ACP in an afternoon.
Sounds harsh, I know, but it is imperative that LE take charge. If the officer is neutralized, then the bad guy is in charge, sometimes with more firepower. LE needs to make a snap decision once in a while.
The best SWAT and Special Forces operatives will spend more time on the range in a month than most of us spend in a lifetime. They also go through thousands of dollars of ammo in a typical month.
I'm not up on my Shotgunology, but every one I've fired holds limited rounds and takes a second hand to ready the next shot (difficult if you're holding a hostage in a chokehold) - assuming this is correct, there probably was no need for multiple cops firing after he took that shot.
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