Terrifying video shows when man opens fire point-blank at police officers

[rayg]

Terrifying video shows NYPD in gunfight with man who opens fire at point-blank range inside apartment building

Video shows the moment four New York City police officers barely escaped death after a man opened fire on them in the stairwell of an apartment building

Officers were responding to a 911 call about an armed confrontation in Brooklyn
Video shows them trying to speak to a man, who didn't appear to be armed at first, before they walked up the stairs toward him

The man immediately pulled out a gun and opened fire on the officers, sending them plummeting down the stairs as they fired back at the suspect

A bullet hit one officer's bulletproof vest while another officer was grazed

Police said man was apprehended after barricading himself in the apartment

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...fire-them.html

[JimF]

I couldn’t believe it!!

The cops fired 23 rounds at the scumbag . . . .the scumbag fired three . . . .

Cops were hit TWICE . . . .scumbag was NOT hit!!

How the hell did the cops miss??

This all happened in a narrow stairway!!

Somebody send NYC cops MORE AMMO! . . . .They need it!!

[lyman]

I couldn’t believe it!!

The cops fired 23 rounds at the scumbag . . . .the scumbag fired three . . . .

Cops were hit TWICE . . . .scumbag was NOT hit!!

How the hell did the cops miss??

This all happened in a narrow stairway!!

Somebody send NYC cops MORE AMMO! . . . .They need it!!

actually, they need training,

[JimF]

actually, they need training,

REALLY?? . . . .You don’t say!!

[Art]

Some observations from one who has been on those New York City tenement stairways many times when I was a "law dog."

This is a classic "I hate the police and I'm doing a public service by killing them" ambush.

There is no place you're at a greater disadvantage than on a stairway, especially going up. Just replicating this situation in training is spooky; when you really have no idea what the guy you want at the top of the stairs will do it gets spookier. Then this happens.
All the advantages are with the bad guy. For one thing the stairway is almost like a bullet funnel going down. Shooting up is harder, a lot harder, than shooting down. There is no cover or concealment on a stairway and no room to maneuver. Your options are retreating down or advancing up but if you advance up you're going right at the gunfire with no way out of the line of fire. Only one or maybe two of the people going up the stairs will ever be in a position to return fire.

By the mid 1990s the doctrine of almost all police departments when faced with an armed suspect barricaded in a building, especially if shots are fired, was to retreat, secure the scene and call SWAT. From the article I gather that's still the case.

Cop lore is filled with stories of cops and bad guys emptying their guns at each other at short range to no effect.

Unless its changed NYPD cops spend one full week a year on the range in firearms training. This means there are 51 weeks of non shooting during which your skills can erode. I believe the quarterly qualification, with separate "survival training" sessions mixed in, of the feds is better. That costs a lot of money though.

If only one cop fired there's no way he fired 23 rounds, I only counted two or three from them but maybe I'm wrong.

Armor works.

[rayg]

It appears the guy maybe ducked out of sight and the police didn't know that he did so as when they got up from after tumbling back down the stairs they probably just reacted and drew out their guns and began firing in the direction. They didn't miss as he was probably out of sight by then....Easy to Criticize not being there.

[togor]

Suppressing fire, just need a cop to get within hand grenade range to finish the job. Of course annual NYPD hand grenade requal day could be an adventure all its own.

[Vern Humphrey]

Do you know anyone dumb enough to throw a hand grenade UP stairs?

(Hint: There's a reason why we take buildings from the top down.)

[JimF]

. . . . .If only one cop fired there's no way he fired 23 rounds, I only counted two or three from them but maybe I'm wrong.. . . ..

Newspaper report said there were 26 shots fired, including three by the perp . . . .

Two cops received one wound each.

[rayg]

He reloaded quickly lol! But you're right something is not right in the story..

[lyman]

Do you know anyone dumb enough to throw a hand grenade UP stairs?

(Hint: There's a reason why we take buildings from the top down.)

well,

now I know one,,,,,

[togor]

Do you know anyone dumb enough to throw a hand grenade UP stairs?

(Hint: There's a reason why we take buildings from the top down.)

It's sarcasm. Because "up the stairwell" is really the problem with the NYPD being issued hand grenades???? That's the takeaway?

But in the movies they pull the pin, release the action and count Mississippis before tossing it so it goes off at the perfect time.

I used to do that with individual firecrackers, eyeball the fuse before flipping it for an "air burst". Never got bit but decided eventually that enough was enough. Stuff kids do.

[bruce]

The officers are to be commended for being cool under close range fire from the assailant. Obviously they could not have approached w/ guns drawn given that they had no reason/cause to consider the attacker to be a threat. He had the initial advantage. He got two hits. The officers returned fire which prevented the assailant from continuing his assault. Drawing and firing up a staircase is awkward. Doing it while moving to cover is harder. Very glad the officers were not seriously wounded. The assailant will now have fun facing the consequences of his stupidity. Sincerely. bruce.

[Art]

It appears the guy maybe ducked out of sight and the police didn't know that he did so as when they got up from after tumbling back down the stairs they probably just reacted and drew out their guns and began firing in the direction. They didn't miss as he was probably out of sight by then....Easy to Criticize not being there.

If they fired 20 odd rounds at a closed door there are going to be some tough questions to those guys by the Shooting Board. One of the issues with high capacity autoloaders is the tendency to empty them under stress. I think Ray may be right, something is probably wrong with the story....which almost always happens.

[JimF]

. . . . . One of the issues with high capacity autoloaders is the tendency to empty them under stress. . . . . . ..

I‘ve been told modern-day officers are now trained to empty their magazines in a shooting . . . .

Is this now a fact? (What ever happened to “marksmanship.“?)

Any LEO’s care to weigh in?