Especially on the last day, I recall hearing the news play sound tape of the literal barrage of gunfire at the boat that the wounded terrorist was hiding in. It sounded like someone was unleashing a mini gun at the guy, and indeed the boat he was in was totally perforated with bullet holes.
And the joker was not killed.
Now we learn, via Bob Owens, that the scary terrorist brother wasn't even armed, even though that same barrage of shooting was described by the police as a gunfight!!
Set aside the fact that it was a supremely bad idea to torch off that much ammo in a crowded city.
Set aside the fact that they didn't kill him outright, or maybe didn't even hit him at all, after shooting that much.
Set aside the fact that they supposedly wanted to capture him alive for questioning.
Set aside the fact that the relevant authorities instinctively lied about what happened during that "firefight."
The guy didn't even have a gun!
And later they wanted him to give himself up! After all the gunfire and all the flash/bang grenades, would you have given up?
Bob has an explanation for this really ridiculous display of incompetence:
Although police feared he was heavily armed, the suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings had no firearms when he came under a barrage of police gunfire that struck the boat where he was hiding, according to multiple federal law enforcement officials.Authorities said they were desperate to capture Dzhokhar Tsarnaev so he could be questioned. The FBI, however, declined to discuss what triggered the gunfire.
I think I can answer that question.
When you arm, armor, and equip peace officers like combat infantrymen, but don’t give them the training, don’t be remotely surprised when they sling lead like a bunch of scared recruits just out of basic training.
If you want cops to act like peace officers, force them to act like peace officers, not make-believe adjuncts to Seal Team 6.
Indeed. There has been a lot of concern over the militarization of the police force, but as we here in California learned recently with the behavior of the LA police when one of their own went bad, it all depends on the guy behind the gun, and his ability to make a sound and reasoned decision about when to shoot. Panic seems to be the default behavior.
At least in Boston they didn't shoot up a couple of little hispanic ladies delivering newspapers.
If it was a fiberglass boat, likely very few rounds actually penetrated.
ReplyDeleteFiberglass is TOUGH.
Your average police .40 load would likely not make it through the glass.
and .223 will all but bounce.
Interesting. That would explain the survival of the terrorist, but it says alot about the effectiveness of the round itself. If lowly fiberglass can thwart a widely used police round.....
DeleteThe training is non existent for the toys they receive. hell most couldn't even pass a fitness test. Sort of like the desk jockey shown climbing over the open gate
ReplyDeleteAnd it shows, both in LA and Boston, but it's beyond a training issue. Here in LA the cops were trying to gun down people that looked and acted nothing like the man they were after. That's a human issue, an issue of when to shoot with whatever toy, and when not to. I recognize that police work is a tough job, but still, it's a miracle that nobody was killed.
DeleteAnd in defense of the police, all three of these bad guys were really bad guys, proven cold blooded killers, and every policeman wants to go home at the end of his shift, so no one is going to take even the smallest chance. That's justified and totally understandable. It's just that one is led to believe that there is training, there is judgement tempered by experience, that there is some basic level of marksmanship involved that would make these experiences better and more reassuring ones for the public at large.
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