The gunman killed one. The police killed the gunman. All 9 wounded were hit by police gunfire. Many police forces do not train with their firearms all that much. This may be part of the problem or none of it in this case. The area where this went down is a very heavy pedestrian traffic area.
I do think there was a lot of shots fired to have hit the turd only 3 times.
This was a huge screw-up...
The number of mistakes made by these two officers was breathtaking. How they approached the gunman was the first. Rushing at him in plain sight, on a very busy street... Stupid, stupid, stupid. The second was that they were approaching a man who had just shot down another guy, and their weapons are holstered! The bad guy pulls out his 1911 auto and points it in the direction of the officers and they still have their pistols holstered. Had the gunman wanted, he could have gotten off several aimed rounds before these cops could clear leather and attempt to return fire. Now in a panic, both officers grab their pistols and fire. 16 rounds in about 3 seconds. 9 rounds miss and 9 bystanders are wounded as a result.
No doubt that these officers had to defend themselves, but they initiated this with:
1) No clue what they were dealing with
2) Really lousy tactics and poor judgment
3) Unprepared for a gunfight
4) Panicked spray and pray shooting
One cop did at least one thing right... He moved laterally to engage the gunman, turned sideways and offered the smallest possible target. Likely more instinct than training. The other officer took cover behind a potted shrub. He was the one likely responsible for most of the bystander wounds (his angle was towards the fleeing people on the sidewalk). However, that is speculation and a forensic investigation will reveal who was responsible for the various civilian injuries.
What does this tell me? NYPD training isn't up to snuff. These guys did everything wrong and by the grace of God, didn't get killed as a result. Going to the range once a year, shooting a box of ammo at paper 7 yards distant to stay qualified isn't training. Shooting skills are perishable. 30 minutes a year is worthless. Two hours of combat shooting practice every month is barely adequate. Tactical training... When to engage, when to just follow, when to move in, the rank and file get little to no tactical training of any value. As an example, I've spent a fair amount of time working with SPEC OPs teams developing hardware for their weapons. These guys would have taken down this guy without collateral victims. Double-tap to the head; fight over.
Sure, we cannot expect the rank and file cop to be trained like a SEAL, or have skill levels remotely close. However, the cops should be trained well enough that they don't make these kind of mistakes and have the good sense to pick a better location to attempt to apprehend an armed killer. Especially when the killer was not an immediate threat to anyone on the street. Mental training is as important as actual range work. These two cops were not mentally prepared for what was about to come down. Holstered firearms tells us that very clearly. When you approach a suspected gunman, you had better have weapons out and sights on the perp.
NYPD, heck, all police departments need to examine what happened today and learn from it.
Here's the video... Those of you who are or have been in law enforcement, and those with military training, will recognize the mistakes.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/empire-state-shooting-graphic-1.3926199
