Cop Killer Used “Armor Piercing Bullets”
BY Herschel Smith
8 years ago
A gang member used armor piercing-bullets and an AR-15 to kill two Palm Springs police officers in a planned “ambush” on Saturday, said Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin in a press conference Wednesday.
John Felix, 26, shot an assault rifle through the front door of his house, killing Officers Jose “Gil” Vega and Lesley Zerebny and wounding a third officer – all of whom were wearing bulletproof vests. Felix was captured early Sunday morning after a 12-hour standoff with police and SWAT teams.
Felix has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder, with enhancement filed on each charge for the use of body armor and armor-piercing bullets.
Because most journalists write at the fifth grade level (intentionally and by design), we don’t know what this means. I suppose it means that he used green tip ammunition.
But it really doesn’t matter. I’ll wager that the cops were using SAPI plates, and so Kevlar won’t stop either green tip or frangible 5.56 mm ammunition. But leave it to the police to make it sound like something other than what it is. Someone killed cops. The ammunition he used is irrelevant, and the cops know that. This event was used to make an unrelated point.
And what’s the issue with the use of “body armor?” What was he wearing – Kevlar or hard shell armor? Is that illegal in California?
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On October 14, 2016 at 9:15 am, squareWave said:
Virtually any centerfire rifle will penetrate soft body armor designed to stop handgun bullets. But as we saw in the last ham fisted attempt to ban green tip, it has nothing to do with reality and everything to do with sensationalism and demonization of particular firearms and ammo.
I wonder if the Cloud People know that even the most inoffensive looking wood grain deer rifle would blast through a kevlar vest like a hot knife through butter?
On October 16, 2016 at 7:33 pm, UNCLEELMO said:
“…sensationalism and demonization of particular firearms and ammo.”
You mean like DA Hestrin saying the “assault weapon” used is a “dangerous weapon”?
Seems to me that what was “dangerous” here was a gang member who had a felony conviction of assault with a firearm who was allowed to plea down from an attempted murder charge and then spent only 18 months in prison.
On October 14, 2016 at 5:08 pm, Jack said:
Luckily green tip ammo is legal in the Peoples Republik of Kalifornia. It’s not that common, however, because most outdoor ranges ban its use due to fear of sparking a fire from a ricochet (I don’t know how plausible that is, but that’s the story). Many ranges check rifle ammo with a magnet – if it’s got a steel core, it’s not allowed.
That’s all likely to change in the very near future, as a new law and ballot initiative are limiting the number of rounds per purchase, requiring fingerprint, ID, background check, and video surveillance of anyone purchasing, and the licensing of sellers
Importation is also restricted to less than 100 rounds. Leaving the state with a case for a competition or hunting? Better use it, because you can’t bring it back in.
Bullet resistant protective gear is also legal, in spite of the efforts of the pansy state legislature.
I wish folks would stop referring to protective gear as ‘bullet proof’ – it’s not.
And the cops in Palm Springs are much more likely concerned with knives than rifle rounds. As such, they’re probably using hard plates instead of ceramic.
On October 16, 2016 at 7:07 pm, UNCLEELMO said:
This is the first I’ve read that the door that was fired through was a screen door.
(Fifth to last paragraph in the abc10 article.)
On October 20, 2016 at 3:25 pm, Billy Mullins said:
I was wondering how the guy could shoot so accurately through his “front door”. Hell, a screen door is almost as easy to see through as a window. You can punch your FIST through the screen of a screen door. You wouldn’t NEED AP rounds to shoot through either a screen door OR a kevlar vest.