He did get the bad guys in the end, that’s good that it all worked out for the better and the scumbags were caught and/or disposed of, but it seems that innocent people could have been easily hurt spraying through a windshield like that on a street in a residential neighborhood. I would like to know what the pros think though.
LAS VEGAS – Dramatic body cam footage of a Las Vegas officer-involved shooting was released Monday, in which an officer appears to shoot at a suspect through a patrol car windshield.
Assistant Sheriff Tim Kelly with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said that on approximately 9:30 a.m. on July 11, officers observed an SUV that appeared to be connected to an attempted murder where a victim was shot multiple times.
Officers began to pursue the vehicle, Kelly said. During the pursuit, two suspects allegedly shot at officers 34 times, “striking multiple marked patrol vehicles.”
Kelly said officers returned fire a total of 32 times.
“The suspects were identified as 23-year- old Fidel Miranda and 30-year-old Rene Nunez,” Kelly said. “Miranda was declared deceased by medical personnel on scene.”
A video of the full press conference on the incident can be seen below:
My LT pushed the video out to me this morning. Quite disturbing. Looking at his hash marks he is not a rookie. Those were some interesting moves. I hope no one but the bad guys got hurt. The guy must have been a machine gunner in the military because he seems to have the 6 to 8 round burst down. Glad he figured out his gun was empty when he went to get out of the cruiser. David
Considering he was being engaged by murder suspects, it’s hard to ACQB his decision to return fire while driving, but at the end of the day, he’s responsible for every bullet that leaves his gun. If he felt he had no choice but to engage from his vehicle while driving, I would think more steady calculated shots would have been better than the rapid fire spray and pray mode, to ensure he doesn’t send any fliers into the surrounding houses and traffic. And it sounds like there weren’t any other civilian’s hit, so I guess he got the job done. Glad they nailed the guys. It reminds me of another video i saw a year or so ago where an officer was engaging a suspect through the windshield while driving, but he was using his patrol rifle
A running gun battle from cars…wow! I don’t know what to make of it, it seems that hit probability would have been very low and stray bullets all about. Worst reload and grip I’ve seen in quite a while. Glad the bad guys wound up in jail or dead.
Very impressive. High speed chase one handed, using his radio to keep dispatch updated, warning the squad car in front to stay back due to BG shooting, and engaging from inside his moving vehicle. Calm and cool.
Wonder what ammo he was using. I assume bonded. Were any rounds deflcted? Is shooting from inside out through the windshield even taught? (If not, perhaps it should be).
I wonder about any hearing damage after a dozen or more rounds fired from inside the vehicle.
People do dumb stuff under stress, so not knocking the officer, but things to learn from- reliads should be automatic, that was rough, but still didnt take all that long- really awkward though.
Second, he really could have made better use of cover.
Bonus points for dedication to eliminating the threat, he was aggressive and deliberate, which seems to be the deciding factor in a lot if these.
Shooting through the window was good, he tried going out and couldnt, so he got 2 hands on the gun and sent a volley through the glass.
Im not a tactics person so my opinion is probably worthless.
I think the officer deserves huge plaudits for his skill of driving and shooting. Has the one snafu on the mag change but solves the problem and engages again. For the person who asked about ammo, I know LVMPD use to use Speer Gold Dot. I would assume they still do.
I think the training fanatics will criticize the mag change. I started to until I realized the full context… stopping the vehicle, working the car door, radio, moving, etc. He got it done, and didn’t panic when the mag was backwards.
I think I know what you’re talking about. It was in Kentucky or something. At night. State trooper shooting his AR through the windshield while in pursuit of a suspect.
Was it the one from Oklahoma, trooper shooting his AR from the dash at a murder suspect’s vehicle? That was awesome. However, he was in a remote area. I won’t say what this guy did was flat-out wrong, but I would use this as a training tool as to whether shooting from inside the squad with a handgun while moving in an urban environment is the right call. Anything goes differently and there’s a decent chance an innocent gets hit. To me, it’s like the advice to guys doing 100+ mph to calls, if you don’t make it to the call, you’re not doing anyone any good - if you’re shooting at a murder suspect and hit a bystander, then what was it all for? Same reason I don’t think aggressive pursuit policies make sense in 99% of situations.
As for the mag change, as someone said, dude was trying to do 4 things at once - not very often you get to train for that.
He’s lucky if that’s the case. When it all works out in the end he’s the hero. None of those actions were taught or would be supported by any LEO management. If a lawsuit were to come up from an erratic pistol round he would be thrown under the bus instantly. As for the driving, overtaking the lead SUV cruiser at high speed is living dangerously. David
