21 Jan 99
This just in from the ________ State Patrol:
“… when Officer _______ walked out of the PD office, the armed (with a pistol) suspect was sitting on the steps of the building. As Officer _________ watched him, the suspect fired a number of rounds. At least one was fired in the direction of the parking lot, and several others were fired toward the PD office. Officer _______ said, in a written statement, that he didn’t return fire at this time, because “He didn’t feel threatened.” One of the several rounds that were fired at the PD office did penetrate a window and lodged in an inner wall, only feet from secretaries’ desks. It could have easily caused serious injury, but, a fate would have it, didn’t.
It was only (several seconds later) when the suspect directed his gunfire directly at Officer _______ that the officer finally acted and returned fire (killing the suspect).
Lesson learned: Even if an armed suspect is only launching rounds into the air and apparently is not making a deliberate effort to hit anything in particular, he or she still poses an imminent, lethal, and credible threat to everyone in the area! Only when someone begins to comprehend and truly understand what constitutes a credible threat will this person become effective at defending himself and/or others. Obviously. “qualifying” once a quarter and then hanging up the weapon and promptly (as in this case) returning one’s head to his ass just doesn’t cut it.”
/John
