LAPD Shooting - Hostage Dead

[JCHavasu]

I apologize if this has been posted but I couldn't find it if so.

I just saw this video yesterday, well actually just the body cam footage, not this extended version but this popped up on YouTube.

LAPD responds to a call of a man with a knife. They try to use less lethal on the guy but he blocks the bean bag rounds with a folding chair. He then grabs a hostage and puts the knife to her throat. Officers fire about 18 rounds ultimately and kill the BG as well as the hostage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGxA1y1TjgM

What an epic fail...

Update: This was a June 16th shooting.

[DolphinFan]

[BajaJames83]

what was the point of moving to letal force when you end up killing both of them....
now if he had a gun and was using the hostage as a shield sure but while he was holding that hostage he was not a threat to anyone but that hostage.

[71MUSTY]

This may become the poster argument against Non-Lethal Force. If the LEO's had started with Lethal Force the hostage would never have been a hostage.


I also love how her family had little to do with her as she was living in a homeless shelter but suddenly her loss will be worth millions to them.

[Regular guy]

While watching the video I was thinking “ Why are you letting him get closer and closer to that woman??” I felt like the cops should have closed on him faster, and shot the guy before he made it to her. Of course it’s easier for me to sit here and judge their actions after the fact, and I have great respect for police.

[OCEquestrian]

Unfortunately, the marksmanship skills required of police officers has never been high.....and when combined with stress and adrenaline leads to these kinds of incidents.

I know many LEO's with excellent, very advanced firearms skills but in my opinion these people are the exception, not the rule. In my personal experience, when talking to police officers attending training classes with me or those at IDPA matches, they report that most all their fellow officers only do the minimum firearms training required by the department. The reason I am told.. if they have to do it on their own time and their own dime, they simply dont / wont do it.

[SAD338]

Geez. That's some Spetsnatz skills right there.
Still.. Crazy homeless people with their knives started the mess.

[71MUSTY]

what was the point of moving to letal force when you end up killing both of them....
now if he had a gun and was using the hostage as a shield sure but while he was holding that hostage he was not a threat to anyone but that hostage.

I was a bit confused by this also, actually not because they went to lethal force because obviously the Hostage's life was in jeopardy (he was applying enough pressure on the knife to cut her throat) but because it looked like they had a clean shot I'm not sure how they hit her unless they went to spray and pray.

Many Government agencies are switching to 9mm to save on training costs. Is this the result they wanted?

[steelholder]

The only thing different I would have done is used a rifle rather then a handgun.
While I feel for the victim, the perpetrator is the one to blame for Everything.

is the credit given before or after he mag dumps directly at the hostage....

[SmallShark]

if an office had a rifle, one shot to his head would have saved the woman's life.

[JCHavasu]

Agreed. The first time I watched the video I was thinking they should be moving up on the guy. Even before he moved next to her she was very close to their line of fire. Staying back by the car and letting the BG move up towards the woman was a horrible tactical decision. I am wondering if they were even thinking about her until the guy grabbed her.

[Red-Osier]

When cops fail big time,sometimes you have to say they failed Bro.

[theLBC]

"drop the knife!"

dude, he dead!

[Steve1968LS2]

lol.. you give them credit? wow..

Well, I guess they did save the hostage from being stabbed to death by gunning her down. That showed him!

So many things done wrong.. and yea, the bad guy is to blame, but the LAPD tactics were awful.

And his is a big dupe

[Barbarosa]

I'm glad there are still men and women out there who are willing to make these life and death decisions. I don't know if the LEOs did everything correctly or not, but thank God I wasn't the one who had to pull the trigger.