Stockton Police Fire 600 Rounds In Rolling Gun Battle Killing Hostage
BY Herschel Smith![](https://www.captainsjournal.com/wp-content/themes/CJ2/img/time.gif)
I had missed it when it happened, but the LA Times reminds us on one incident with the Stockton Police Department that ought to calibrate your expectations concerning police.
The more than 600 rounds that Stockton police fired during a rolling gun battle with bank robbers last year that left a hostage dead by officers’ bullets was “excessive” and “unnecessary,” an independent review found.
The Police Foundation, a research group based in Washington, D.C., released a detailed report Monday on how Stockton police responded to the July 16, 2014, armed robbery of a Bank of the West branch, where three gunmen took three women hostage and fired at officers from a speeding SUV.
The group found that 32 officers unloaded more than 600 rounds during the hour-long rolling gun battle, which spanned three counties, 63 miles of highway and reached speeds of 120 mph. One of the hostages, Misty Holt-Singh, was killed when she was struck by 10 police bullets, authorities said. The two other hostages jumped or were thrown from the vehicle during the chase and survived.
Police officials said they fired on the vehicle to potentially save lives because the men in the car were shooting indiscriminately. The gunmen disabled 14 police cars with gunshots, the report stated.
[ … ]
The report said that a few officers engaged in “sympathetic fire,” in which officers fired their weapons because others were shooting.
In some cases, officers opened fire while colleagues were in front of them. The report highlighted an example during the final standoff, in which one officer lay prone on the ground and did not shoot while an officer next to him, standing, fired “round after round.”
“‘What’s your target?’ the prone officer yelled, thinking he was missing something,” the report stated.
“‘The car!’ responded the officer,” according to the report.
Good Lord. This is even worse than the New York Police in the empire state building three years ago. 600 rounds, indiscriminate shooting, lack of muzzle awareness and discipline, rolling gun battle in a urban and suburban settings, lack of awareness of their backstop, lack of precision fire, and the list could go on.
Ridiculous.
From reader Mack, in other news, the anti-gun movement’s intellectual elevator runs a few floors short of the top.
Lori Haas, director of the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence’s Virginians for Responsible Gun Laws campaign, says that requirements for a concealed carry permit are too lax, especially compared to the hundreds of hours of training required for police officers.
“We feel that the current regulations regarding concealed handgun permits in Virginia are woefully inadequate in regard to training,” said Haas, referencing online concealed permit classes that count toward a permit. “The notion that someone can sit in front of a computer and learn about firearm safety and be considered able to physically, actively handle an active shooter situation is fantasy.”
Uh huh. Well, no more so that believing the police will protect you. Apparently it was safer for the hostages in the Stockton gun battle to jump out of moving cars than be around when the police got busy.
But okay, I’ll bite. So if Ms. Haas wants you to have more tactical training, then get more tactical training. No, not training she or the state approves, but training you think you need to do the job of self defense. And collectivist Haas can kiss our collective asses.
On August 25, 2015 at 4:46 am, Terry Malley said:
Re: the Stockton police. I don’t recall reading about 600-round gunfights when cops carried revolvers. They had to make every shot count then, and there were fewer stray bullets to kill hostages.
On August 26, 2015 at 9:36 am, craig henry said:
Good point. Note as well that many controversial police shootings focus on the number of shots fired. Again, hi-cap semi-auto created some problems even as they solved others.
On August 31, 2015 at 9:08 am, Billy Mullins said:
“compared to the hundreds of hours of training required for police officers.”
Cops may get “hundreds of hours of training” but very little of it is directly related to discharging their weapon. Even that focuses more on tactics than marksmanship. Typical leftist obfuscation.
On November 6, 2017 at 2:31 pm, tjbbpgobIII said:
I just suppose that by commenter number one, that the infantry should return to bolt action rifle to keep the #of rounds fired to a minimum, instead of the round controlling of burst firing. I liked it better on full rock&roll.
On November 6, 2017 at 2:40 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@tj…,
No. Not infantry. Just cops. Until they get some self control.