A man armed with a ‘sword-like weapon’ was shot dead outside a police station yesterday.
He was gunned down after breaching a secure car park and smashing the windows of parked vehicles.
So much for 'secure car park'...
Six shots were heard by Mark Baxter, who works at a nearby motor firm.
‘I was in reception with my colleague when there was suddenly a series of bangs,’ said the 59-year-old.
‘We looked at each other and knew instantly it wasn’t a car backfiring. There were two sharp blasts, two shots afterwards, a little delay and then two more shots.
‘We went outside and a lot of police officers were there. We saw there was someone on the ground with a guy stood over him with a gun, a police officer with a rifle and then they shut the road off.’
So much for 'marksmen'...
Derbyshire Constabulary said armed officers were called to the scene after a man was seen ‘armed with a knife in the secure car park’ of the police station.
A spokesman added: ‘A police firearm was discharged. The man, whose identity is unknown, sustained a gunshot injury and East Midlands Ambulance Service were requested to attend.’
So much for accuracy...
I seem to recall a previous article here about police marksmen taking thirty shots to kill a rampaging bull. Six shots to incapacitate a man is an improvement. One does wonder where all of the stray shots went.
ReplyDeleteDamage a police (BMW) car, and you get gunned down.
ReplyDeleteRun amok elsewhere, and you can play you Get out of Jail card ...
Taking just one shot with a modern rifle, a properly trained sniper will hit a small target from a distance of over a mile. Plod aren't military snipers but one hit from their murderous ammunition will rip apart internal organs. Taking six shots from close range before finally bringing the target down, cannot suggest anything other than incompetence/inadequate training.
ReplyDeleteWe must have faith that plod 'learned lessons' from that pathetic horse in the field scenario...the one where they ran out of ammo; backup arriving to shoot off a leg and mercifully, a Vet arriving later still, to administer the coup de grâce.
Maybe a new training regime is required along the lines of an agricultural barn for a target; plod blasting away from 2 metres and discharging a full salvo from a M134 Vulcan cannon. But what are the odds of the barn remaining unscathed?
Off topic, new evidence has emerged today, re the Yassar Yaqub shooting. Evidence imparting a strong whiff of murder by uniformed assassins. Plod doing privately paid 'hits' for rival gangs. This public 'service' can only get worse.
MTG1
ReplyDeleteI think that you will find that the police use full jacketed rounds which over penetrate without giving up their kinetic energy. The Home Office mandarins are petrified to permit the use of soft nosed ammunition in case it leads to allegation of using Dum-Dum rounds and the old favourite “human rights”.
"One does wonder where all of the stray shots went."
ReplyDeleteThere may not have been any, because it now transpires they tried firing beanbag rounds, and that could have accounted for some of the sounds heard...
"Off topic, new evidence has emerged today, re the Yassar Yaqub shooting."
Oh, really? And what was that, pray tell? I certainly haven't seen anything that would change my mind.
"The Home Office mandarins are petrified to permit the use of soft nosed ammunition..."
Except on aircraft. Don't air marshalls in the States carry then, to prevent depressurisation?
'I certainly haven't seen anything that would change my mind'
ReplyDeletePutting the telescope to your bad eye, dear?