5 Police Shot in NJ

[Falkenhayn]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/16/nj. ... index.html

(CNN) -- A gunman wearing "priest clothing" sparked a shootout with police in Jersey City, New Jersey, early Thursday that ended with five officers wounded and the shooter and another suspect dead, authorities said.

Two of the officers sustained serious injuries, officials said.

The shootings began around 5 a.m. as two officers monitored a vehicle suspected of being involved in a recent armed robbery.

When a man went to the car, police approached him.

The man, dressed in what Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy described as "priest clothing," pulled out a shotgun and fired, grazing one officer in the leg, authorities said.

The suspect then fled and holed up in a nearby apartment, apparently with another person, Police Chief Thomas Comey told reporters at a news conference.

Police called in backup, including officers from the Port Authority, and evacuated other residents of the building. As they moved in for a tactical entry into the apartment, they were met with gunfire, officials said.

Four more officers were wounded and the two suspects were killed in an exchange of gunfire there.

One suspect was "ready to go to war" in the way he was armed, Comey said.
advertisement

"This individual came fully ready to go to war with us," the chief said at a news conference. "This is not a normal shotgun ... and he decided to put these cops under fire." Video Watch chief describe suspect "ready for war" »

Of the five officers wounded, one has been released from the hospital, while the officers who sustained critical injuries have been stabilized and were undergoing surgery, according to Dr. Nathaniel Holmes, Chief of Surgery of Jersey City Medical Center.

The two critically injured are still in surgery, and were struck in the neck and face. The barricaded suspects shot them through the wall and door of the room they were hiding in. This additional information comes from the live TV broadcast on CNN.

[Zixinus]

Sounds like they got a madman who has at least a vague idea of what he's doing.

The story is however, very incomplete granted this is very fresh news. Dressed for war? What, did he have blue facepaint or something? Was he wearing body armour?

*watches the video*

What does he mean that the shotgun was meant only to kill people? Are we talking about an automatic shotgun here or what?

Either, way, this looks like something blowing up and puffing big.

[Edward Yee]

The description of the weapon comes off to me as suspicious, can't put a finger on the why.

[Jaepheth]

Purely speculation, but it may have been a Saiga-12 or the like.

[Pablo Sanchez]

Purely speculation, but it may have been a Saiga-12 or the like.

Or the stock and barrel might have been cut down to make it handier but also unsuitable for hunting use.

[His Divine Shadow]

The description of the weapon comes off to me as suspicious, can't put a finger on the why.

Probably the pure unadulatered sensationalism that's doing that. As for the shotgun it was some unknown brand of pump action shotgun that someone had pimped up with some useless shit hanging of it. It was a weapon made "to hunt nothing but men" according to this article

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/nyreg ... ss&emc=rss

[Kamakazie Sith]

The description of the weapon comes off to me as suspicious, can't put a finger on the why.

Probably the pure unadulatered sensationalism that's doing that. As for the shotgun it was some unknown brand of pump action shotgun that someone had pimped up with some useless shit hanging of it. It was a weapon made "to hunt nothing but men" according to this article

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/nyreg ... ss&emc=rss

Since when is a sling lined with extra ammunition considered useless shit?

Though I do agree the drama attached to the shotgun is a bit much but I wouldn't say the assessment by the police on this person is outrageous by any means. He was obviously prepared to do battle if he had a shotgun easily accessible under his robe and when he fired on a SWAT team approaching his home he pretty much signed his own death warrant.

[His Divine Shadow]

Have you ever used one of those slings with ammo hanging off? They're utter crap and don't work, they are heavy and the ammo flies around like a pendulum, disrupting your aim. It just gets in your way and probably does more to hinder than help. Now I could see the purpose for hunting animals ironically enough, you don't need to reload quickly there like in a gunfight, so there it could work, but not as good as a bandolier. Keeping extra shells in your pockets works better than that sling.

I never said anything of the assesment of the person by the way, he probably was out to get in a gunfight, he was just really stupid about it. Given that he shot two officers in the face and neck and they survived (and he failed but to wound the others) it's likely he used something like birdshot too instead of buckshot, adding to his ineptitude, fortunately for everyone else.

[Kamakazie Sith]

Have you ever used one of those slings with ammo hanging off? They're utter crap and don't work, they are heavy and the ammo flies around like a pendulum, disrupting your aim. It just gets in your way and probably does more to hinder than help. Now I could see the purpose for hunting animals ironically enough, you don't need to reload quickly there like in a gunfight, so there it could work, but not as good as a bandolier. Keeping extra shells in your pockets works better than that sling.

I never said anything of the assesment of the person by the way, he probably was out to get in a gunfight, he was just really stupid about it. given that he shot officers in the face and neck and they survived it's likely he used birdshot too, adding to his ineptitude, fortunately for everyone else.

It depends on the sling and how you have it setup. If you've got the right setup it won't bother you at all. Anyway, this has been a rough year for US law enforcement. The circumstaces in this are pretty similiar to the one that took the lives of those two Oakland SWAT officers. In that situation Mixon was hiding in a closet and fired through the wall in the direction of his front door killing those two officers.

[[R_H]]

MSNBC

JERSEY CITY, N.J. - Five police officers were shot — two of them critically wounded — in a running gunfight Thursday morning that began during a police stakeout of two armed robbery suspects in New Jersey's second-largest city.

Both suspects were killed in the shootout, which began on the street about 5 a.m. and ended when SWAT officers fought their way into an apartment where the man and woman had taken cover. The assaulting officers were met by shotgun blasts that ripped through the apartment building's walls and doors.

One of the suspects had "some kind of automatic shotgun," Mayor Jerramiah Healy said. Residents of the complex said they awoke to the sounds of gunfire and police running down their halls.

Marlon Harrison said gunshots echoed off the alley wall outside his second-floor apartment window.

"It was like the Army out there," Harrison said.

Doctors at Jersey City Medical Center said the most seriously injured officer was in full cardiac arrest, with no signs of life, when he arrived for treatment. Doctors had to bring him back to life "five or six times" before they could stabilize him, he said.

Dr. Bruno Molino, the chief of trauma at Jersey City Medical Center, said the officer received a shotgun blast to the left side of his face and will require reconstructive surgery to repair his jaw, sinus and the area below his eye.

Molino said his team removed two "foreign objects" from the neck of the second officer. He said the next 24 to 48 hours are pivotal for the survival of both men, who have been sedated and are in critical but stable condition.

"These officers are extremely lucky to be alive," said Molino, 37. "We're very fortunate to be discussing this at all."

The suspects were being sought in connection with an armed robbery last month in which they allegedly shot a man in the abdomen with the same shotgun. Healy said the duo was suspected of similar criminal activity in South Carolina.

Authorities said that the woman did not have a firearm, but that her partner wielded his weapon with deadly intent, sending residents scrambling for cover in a violent neighborhood known for illegal drug sales.

"This individual came fully ready to go to war with us," said Police Chief Tom Comey. "This is a gun meant for nothing other than to hunt a man."

When the gunfire stopped, both suspects were dead and five officers were taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds. Three other officers were treated for minor injuries, such as flying glass.

Police identified the vehicle used in the earlier robbery from surveillance video. Investigators learned the suspects moved it each morning to avoid getting a ticket and staked the vehicle out.

The gunfight began when the suspects approached their car. The man pulled out a pump-action shotgun and fired at the marked police car, blowing out its windshield. One of the officers was shot in the leg.

The subsequent injuries all took place during the apartment assault. The fourth officer wounded was shot in the chest, but the blast was absorbed by his bulletproof vest. The fifth victim, a member of the emergency services unit of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, was shot in the arm.