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NYPD: [ALL BUT ONE OF THE] Empire State victims hit by police gunfire

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  • NYPD: [ALL BUT ONE OF THE] Empire State victims hit by police gunfire

    A bunch of Annie Oakleys.

    A new meaning to failed gun control.

    NYPD: Empire State victims hit by police gunfire
    By TOM HAYS and VERENA DOBNIK | Associated Press – 1 hr 43 mins ago

    NYPD: Empire State victims hit by police gunfire - Yahoo! News



    NEW YORK (AP) — All nine people wounded during a dramatic confrontation between police and a gunman outside the Empire State Building were struck by bullets fired by the two officers, police said Saturday, citing ballistics evidence.

    The veteran patrolmen who opened fire on the suit-wearing gunman, Jeffrey Johnson, had only an instant to react when he whirled and pointed a .45-caliber pistol as they approached him from behind on a busy sidewalk.

    Officer Craig Matthews shot seven times. Officer Robert Sinishtaj fired nine times, police said. Neither had ever fired their weapons before on a patrol.

    The volley of gunfire felled Johnson in just a few seconds and left nine other people bleeding on the sidewalk.

    In the initial chaos Friday, it wasn't clear whether Johnson or the officers were responsible for the trail of wounded, but based on ballistic and other evidence, "it appears that all nine of the victims were struck either by fragments or by bullets fired by police," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters on Saturday at a community event in Harlem.

    He reiterated that the officers appeared to have no choice but to shoot Johnson, whose body had 10 bullets wounds in the chest, arms and legs.

    "I believe it was handled well," Kelly said.

    The officers confronted Johnson as he walked, casually, down the street after gunning down a former co-worker on the sidewalk outside the office they once shared. The shooting happened at 9 a.m., as the neighborhood bustled with people arriving for work.

    The gunman and his victim, Steve Ercolino, had a history of workplace squabbles before Johnson was laid off from their company, Hazan Import Corp., a year ago. At one point, the two men had grappled physically in an elevator.

    John Koch, the property manager at the office building where the men worked, said security camera footage showed the two pushing and shoving. The tussle ended when Ercolino, a much larger man, pinned Johnson against the wall of the elevator by the throat, Koch said. Ercolino let him go after a few moments, and the two men went their separate ways.

    "They didn't like each other," Koch said.

    After shooting Ercolino, Johnson, an eccentric T-shirt designer and avid bird-watcher who wore a suit every day, even when photographing hawks in Central Park, walked away as if nothing had happened.

    Alerted by a construction worker, officers Matthews and Sinishtaj gave chase as Johnson rounded a corner and walked along Fifth Avenue, in front of the landmark skyscraper.

    A security videotape from the scene shows several civilians — including three sitting on a bench only a few feet away — scattering as the officers opened fire.

    Police have determined that three people were struck by whole bullets — two of which were removed from victims at the hospital — and the rest were grazed "by fragments of some sort," Kelly said.

    Three people remained hospitalized, all in stable condition, police said.

    Both Matthews, 39, and Sinishtaj, 40, joined the nation's largest police department 15 years ago.

    Matthews had drawn attention earlier this year by filing a lawsuit against the New York Police Department that accused his superiors of unfairly punishing him for not meeting arrest quotas. A judge threw out the complaint.

    There was no immediate response to a message left with the union representing the two officers.

    The shooting didn't deter tourists from flocking to the Empire State Building as usual on Saturday.

    Patricia Flynn, 57, a retired schoolteacher, visited the building's peak with her elderly mother, who once worked in the skyscraper as a secretary.

    "But I didn't tell her what happened," said Flynn, adding that her mother was unaware of Friday's shooting. "And she really enjoyed the view."

    A group of 31 tourists from all over France held a meeting Friday night at their nearby hotel to decide whether to cancel their planned Empire State Building visit.

    "We were scared, and we thought it was a risk," said Catherine Krukar, 38, a teacher.

    But in the end, they went ahead with the visit, she said after descending from the observation tower,

    "We know it can happen anywhere, and we wanted to see the Empire State Building," Krukar said. "It was beautiful!"

    ___

    Contributing to this report from New York were David B. Caruso, Colleen Long and the AP News Research Center.
    Last edited by troung; 25 Aug 12,, 20:57.
    To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

  • #2
    Unbelievable. If they're allowed to carry weapons, how come they're not trained to use them?
    In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

    Leibniz

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    • #3
      Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezus :slap::slap::slap::slap:

      Comment


      • #4
        Look, you must give those two cops a credit. :red:

        They fired 16 bullets, 10 hit the perp and with the other 6 they managed to injure 9 people.

        All that with a 9mm.
        No such thing as a good tax - Churchill

        To make mistakes is human. To blame someone else for your mistake, is strategic.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Parihaka View Post
          Unbelievable. If they're allowed to carry weapons, how come they're not trained to use them?
          They are but it's their first live action. Adrenalin overtook their extremely limited training.

          Comment


          • #6
            :slap: Doh! :slap:


            The NYPD shooting was the big news of the day, so much so that the national media neglected to mention the 19 people shot in Chicago (another town where folks aren't allowed to have firearms).

            19 people shot in overnight shootings across Chicago - chicagotribune.com
            "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." - John Adams

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            • #7
              The NYPD shooting was the big news of the day, so much so that the national media neglected to mention the 19 people shot in Chicago (another town where folks aren't allowed to have firearms).
              What does that have to do with awe inspiring NYPD shooting skills?
              To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

              Comment


              • #8
                On the other hand, here are the Chinese cops:



                Last edited by citanon; 26 Aug 12,, 01:18.

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                • #9
                  Keystone Dbags.

                  Get some range time, lardasses.

                  -dale

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by troung View Post
                    What does that have to do with awe inspiring NYPD shooting skills?
                    Probably just a talking point on some right wing website - second or third time I've seen this factoid posted in response to this story.
                    sigpic

                    Win nervously lose tragically - Reds C C

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                    • #11
                      I would guess that's kind of response like "Why the big fuss over few injured in NYC, while in Chicago people are getting shot like rabbits".
                      No such thing as a good tax - Churchill

                      To make mistakes is human. To blame someone else for your mistake, is strategic.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        So we have a Macedonian and an Aussie weighing in on American police underqualification? :)

                        -dale

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                        • #13
                          Globalization :whome:
                          No such thing as a good tax - Churchill

                          To make mistakes is human. To blame someone else for your mistake, is strategic.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by troung View Post
                            A bunch of Annie Oakleys.

                            A new meaning to failed gun control.
                            My favorite was when Nanny Bloomberg came out and said that the shooting was a tragic situation, his thoughs and prayers were with the injured...but then forgot to mention the 9 injured people were by the police. Then he throws a phrase "there are too many guns on the streets of New York" in the mix.

                            Yes...too many guns at the hands of the highly paid and under trained police.
                            "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by dalem View Post
                              So we have a Macedonian and an Aussie weighing in on American police underqualification? :)

                              -dale

                              One of the problems ith continuing to comment on the posts of somebody you have on ignore is that it can tend to make you look the fool.
                              sigpic

                              Win nervously lose tragically - Reds C C

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