An off-duty law-enforcement officer shares his lessons learned from a fatal shootout in a crowded McDonald’s:
I had taken my family to a McDonald’s Restaurant on our way to a pool party. I was off-duty, in civilian clothes, and armed.
I was standing in line and oblivious (like all the other patrons) to the fact that an armed suspect had taken the manager hostage and was forcing her to open the safe in the restaurant’s office. One of the cashiers had seen this and I overheard her telling another employee that the business was being robbed.
At that time, I had approximately 15 years of experience and was a SWAT team member and use-of-force/firearms instructor. I had talked to my wife about such an occurrence and we had a preplanned response. When I told her to take the children and leave the building, she did not hesitate. I began quietly telling employees and patrons to leave. My thinking was to remove as many innocent bystanders as possible and then leave myself.
More @ Isegoria
Thanks for linking this. Something he said: "The responsibility of carrying a firearm is huge. I had devoted countless hours to training for the fight, but was not fully prepared for the aftermath." reminded me of Dave Grossman's books On Killing, which I've read, and On Combat, which I've just started. Grossman talks about the emotional impact of taking a life in combat. Losing a non-combatant is very different than killing an enemy or losing a battle buddy. There's a lot more room for guilt there, for one thing, even if it's completely bogus guilt. I'm glad this fellow was carrying that day and glad he shared his story. I think he's taking too much upon himself, though. The thug had already demonstrated how little he valued the lives of others. The officer's choice to engage didn't cause the little girl's death. It's not the cop's fault that the thug was a murderer at heart and became a murderer in fact during the gunfight.
ReplyDelete