Hey guys. This video has been going around today. I shared it on Facebook with some lessons posted with it. Let me know what you think and obviously good discussion would be great. Im trying to become an instructor for my department and am open to any criticism.
"I have seen this video floating around Facebook today and decided I should share it with my friends. Many of my friends dont really need the lessons Im going to go over in this video but many definitely do.
Okay so the video from Brazil shows three bad guys attempting to rob/kill/whatever an off duty policeman and his wife in his garage. They enter and stage two at the exit while the third goes to open the driver door. The driver fires several shots (my best count is five?) at the suspect who returns fire. The main suspect then runs out the door. The officer fires two rounds at each of the other two fleeing suspects.
Lesson 1. Bullets, especially handgun rounds, dont work in real life like they do in the movies. People generally dont fall down and die right away from being shot. Unless you sever the upper spine or destroy the inner parts of the brain a bad guy will still be conscious until he passes out from blood loss. Complete and instant destruction of the heart still leaves enough blood in the brain for conscious activity for at least 30 seconds. In this video the first suspect was shot 3 times in the chest and died later down the road. the second suspect was hit once in the back and treated at the hospital. The third suspect was not hit. Note that these three bad guys left under their own power. A more determined (or drugged up) attacker might not decide to quit so fast. Read http://www.firearmstactical.com/pdf/fbi-hwfe.pdf for more information regarding terminal ballistics.
Lesson 2. Magazine capacity and reloads. My best counting shows 9 rounds fired by the officer. The first suspect was hit 3 times so we could possibly drop it down to 7 rounds total. If you are running a single stack handgun or revolver you are either out of ammo or on your last round. Think about that. This guy shot 7-9 rounds and all three bad guys are still up and mobile. Hell one of them isnt even injured. If you have a low capacity gun and no reload you are in for a bad time if these guys dont run away. This is also a good demonstration for the people who think you dont need more than 10 rounds. This guy used almost 10 rounds and still had 3 possible threats present. This gunfight ended at 9 rounds because the bad guys decided it ended then, not because the good guy MADE it end then.
Lesson 3. Training/practice. This fight was a very fast, close quarters gunfight that started in a vehicle. Have you ever tried to draw your handgun while seated in your vehicle? With your seatbelt on? Have you ever tried to maneuver your handgun to the door side from your right side? If not… go over the steering wheel as not to get caught up on it. These types of real world type scenarious need to be practiced. I think a good rubber gun or airsoft replica is a great training tool for this kind of training. Gunfights usually dont happen at the range. Also you notice he shoots a lot one handed. If you dont practice that, do it. Get training!
Lesson 4. Situational awareness. This is what really saved this guys life. I counted 7 seconds from when the suspects first grab the door to the first bad guy opening the car door. If you dont know the fight is on until after you’re hit the odds are severely stacked against you.
Lesson 5. Violence of action. This is an ambush. The Army teaches that the effective way to combat an ambush is attack! It works. Ive done it. Sitting around and thinking and planning does nothing but make a bad situation worse. Watch the video. The first suspect is surprised by the attack from the officer. It takes an average of 3/4 to 1 second for a person to complete the OODA loop. Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. The bad guy had his mind made up of what he was going to do when he opened that door. The officer’s attack made the suspect completely change his plans there on the spot and caused the suspect to panic.
I think that situational awareness and preparedness saved those two. I can’t tell when the driver noticed the threat, but he was definitely ready when the bad guy opened the door and flipped the ambush around on the bad guy. It looks like the driver may have gone back to the car for a reload and/or to check on the passenger? I noticed bad guy get off at least one shot at the floor, but it looks like he may have gotten one off as soon as the driver opened fire?
Wasn’t there a thread about a Policeman in Vegas being attacked and killed in his garage off duty a year or two ago?
Good reminder and lesson of being aware. It looks like an attempted hit on the Officer. Brazil ia a dangerous ****in place.
Most people do not realize how vulnerable they are when coming home or leaving their residence. I recall a homicide in the Socal area that was never solved of a judge and his wife being shot gunned in the driveway, just after pulling-in from the street.
A good reason not to be predictable, vary schedule, and be aware of those around you. Most of these types of attacks are planned and the victim is surveilled beforehand.
Another reason that I always have a gun handy in the car. I too consider a 10+ auto a minimum, except for a j-frame BUG.
Parking lots and driveways seem to have a high percentage of attacks. Lesson 4 is so important in transition zones like getting in and out of a car where you are at a natural disadvantage.
His SA is what really saved him. I wonder if he unholsters his pistol while driving? My last two years in Saudi we concealed carried and I never left it holstered while driving. Having good SA, i.e. being paranoid, has saved my butt a few times.
I have read that many times Police Officers end up shooting single handed even though they/we all train with both hands. I’ve only known one Soldier that used his M9 in combat and his first, and only, two shots were single handed.
In that article about why gun nuts shoot well, he mentioned some of the good things he saw in civilian shooting competitions. I’d add that shooting a pistol single handed at close range targets is one of those good things.
That’s a good point Todd. In the interview posted with the Chicago cop about shootings he recounted of many times ending up shooting his pistol with one hand.
I always make it a point to practice several magazines worth one-handed, both left and right, during a range session. I have never heard of an LE qualification that did not include at least some single-handed fire.
Ironic, that on public pistol ranges, I rarely ever see anyone firing with one hand. Most who do are or appear to be LE type individuals.
Certainly an important reminder to incorporate into one’s training.
I posted about this on my blog when I first saw this video, primarily to cover situational awareness.
If he was paying attention to what was going on, he would have had bullets on the first guy through the door as the guy was going under it.
One thing I’ve always educated new boots I’ve been given is that when you arrive to your destination, pop the door open and look around, this gives you the ability to flee your death-trap vehicle and a scan of the surrounding area. Trust your gut instinct, if you see a quick movement or something of that sort, look at it.
I don’t know if we can judge that his SA wasn’t perfect, he might have taken a moment to prepare his wife; and we don’t know what concealment was outside the garage. In my experience you need to know pattern of life to get close to perfect SA. In southwest Saudi Arabia I recently had an incident, and because they parked where I had never seen two cars park before I was able to extract myself from the situation before they trapped me, we’ll never know if it was a rehearsal or the real deal because of my SA.
“You have to affect the situation before it effects you.”
The guy was at his door, if he wanted to kill him instead of rob him he would have already done so.
Judging intent by someone’s inaction of violence is not always the best option - the GB entered his garage while it was closing, that’s all the intent that was required.
I don’t know if driving with an unholstered handgun is the the best advice, i.e. unholstered handguns were displaced before and during the infamous Miami/FBI shooting. Perhaps a dedicated crossdraw holster is a better option if vehicle ambush is a priority concern of the handgun carrier in his particular case. YMMV
Also, the much quoted “gunfights last only 2-3 shots” is also a myth. Annual NYPD SOP-9 (Analysis report of NYPD officer involved shootings) may show a total average of 2-3 shots, but included in the report are NYPD suicides, which more often than not involves a single shot, needless to say. IIRC, it also reports ND’s, which also tend to be a single-shot affairs. This skews the “incident” shot average.
I also believe, multiple assailants are more prevalent than in years/decades past.
Carry an adequate handgun and it’s related support systems. YMMV
True. And if he was real warrior, he would have had a buddy providing overwatch in the alleyway so they never wouldn’t gotten inside in the first place. :rolleyes:
They were quick. It was night. The attacker was low to the ground. Good guy’s tinted windows were rolled up. He was seated, and probably belted, in a car. How do you expect anyone to react faster than that to something totally unexpected as they come home from a nice dinner or seeing their kids dance recital? The guy was on point and was paying more than enough attention given the outcome.
Stop the car a few blocks away from your house, and do a CTR and area/route recon of your neighborhood to identify possible threats?
I think he reacted appropriately for the situation. If they had hosed down the car from the garage door, no SA would have mattered.
It could be that he saw the dude approach his car, in the side mirror, and was able to draw and get ready for the threat to appear.
He could quite possibly have been slower if he tried to get out first -> alerting bad guys that he was aware.
and scary vid for sure