Forehead Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4285702 ANAHEIM, Calif. -- An off-duty police officer shot and wounded two men who had assaulted him in the crowded Angel Stadium parking lot after Wednesday night's Colorado Rockies-Los Angeles Angels game, authorities said. The officer, who was walking to his car with his wife and two small children about 25 minutes after the game, was hit in the head with a bottle or club, police Sgt. Tim Schmidt said. "We think he was the victim of a crime," Schmidt said. The off-duty officer then shot the men with his duty weapon, Schmidt said. Police did not immediately identify the officer or the shooting victims. One man was shot in the head and was in critical condition, the other was shot in the upper arm and in serious but stable condition. The officer also had a serious head wound. All three were taken to hospitals. No one else in the parking lot was hurt, Schmidt said. The Orange County District Attorney's office joined the Anaheim Police department in investigating the incident, which is required in officer-involved shootings. The Angels had beaten the Rockies 11-3 earlier in the evening. Rachel Cordova was among the startled and confused fans in the parking lot. "We heard three shots and turned around and I thought, 'Those are gun shots,' " Cordova told KNX radio. "One of the guys I was with said 'No, it's not,' but then we heard sirens." Cordova said she then walked toward the scene. "I left there and saw a young, maybe 20-year-old male laying on the ground without his shirt, and they were attending to him," she said. ************************ Just curious what opinions we have on this. Was the officer justified, etc. Please don't turn this into a huge argument, at least keep it civil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnyderShrugged Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Good for him! Off duty or not, a man has a right to protect himself and his family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattFancy Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 This one's tricky. I don't know if he should have shot at them, but I guess thats what you get for throwing a bottle or hitting an officer in the head with a club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickalino Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 "don't shoot me, bro" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgun88 Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 At least no one died! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickalino Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 At least no one died! and no-one lied Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BKSkinsFan Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 He was protecting himself. It's easy to say, "He should have done this" afterwards. People need to realize when you're with your family, and are being attacked, things happen quickly. Should he have shot them? I can't say for sure, he may have just been able to pull his gun out and scare them off. Of course they could have been armed as well. What SHOULDN'T have happened was 2 men assaulting someone that went to a baseball game with his family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chachie Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Shooting them was a bit much but I hope this will serve as a warning to all those knuckleheads who get out of hand at sporting events. I personally can't stand drunk hooligans but I'll leave out any more opinions until all the facts are out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chump Bailey Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 This one's tricky. I don't know if he should have shot at them, but I guess thats what you get for throwing a bottle or hitting an officer in the head with a club. He absolutely should have shot at them. Too bad he didn't kill them. WTF are you thinking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chachie Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 He absolutely should have shot at them. Too bad he didn't kill them. WTF are you thinking? This is more along the lines of what I wanted to say but didn't want to appear too rash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeckBone Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 This is a very touchy situation. Let me first enterject a personal story here. When I was in High School I worked in the Annapolis mall at Hecht's (now Macy's). I lived in a county over, and one Friday just after finishing up a basketball game I went to the mall to pick up my paycheck. If you are not familiar with the stores setup its a dual level connected with an escalator directly in the middle. I had to go to the office area upstairs, near the bathrooms if you have been. Just as I was making the turn to step onto the escalator, gunshots rang out. Six or so. If you have ever been witness to an indoor shooting you are very aware of the noises. The shots echoe, a panicked silence, followed abruptly by the slamming of every storefront gate, then screams of terror (in short!). When I reached the bottom, to the left of me would be the mall entrance/exit and to the left the rest of the store/parking lot exits. Well probably about 25 feet to my left towards the mall exit was the victim laying in front of the cosmetic counters. Being 17, this memory still appears very vivid some 12 years later. What stuck out was how dark, almost black, the blood was as they worked on him. I found out later the scenario surrounding the shooting. Apparently, said "vicitim" tried to rob the Kay Jewelers which is right next to Hecht's in the mall. As he was making his exit, an off duty police officer witnessed the ordeal and pulled his gun and proceed to empty six. I don't even remember if the vicitm surivived. My thoughts now still echoe my sentiments back then. How can this happen? I mean in a crowded mall, or stadium parking lot. What ever happened to non-violent arrests. Could these situations have been handled without such excessive force? I do believe so. Six shots to the torso will definately get the job done. Just like a head shot in parking lot. If this is what happens when these officers are off-duty who's to say might happen in during their daily grind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdiamond Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 I'm going to hold off passing judgement until the whole story comes out. While I do agree if he's getting attacked by 2 people with weapons (or bottles in this case) then he has a duty to protect himself and his family. However, I find it somewhat hard to believe that these individuals attacked him unprovoked with his wife and kids there. Also shooting them does seem a bit harsh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monte51Coleman Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 The Orange County District Attorney's office joined the Anaheim Police department in investigating the incident, which is required in officer-involved shootings. The Angels had beaten the Rockies 11-3 earlier in the evening. Interesting way to work the game score into the article. :rotflmao: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpillian Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Don't know all the facts. However, given the officer's injuries alone (serious head injury from the bottle(s) ), I think it sounds like using his weapon to defend himself and family was justified. I think it'd be tough to make an argument from the other side of this, given the officer's injury prior to the shooting. Add to that he was with his wife and kids, I think that lends more credence to his actions. OTOH, if the officer was un-injured, or the attackers were unarmed, I think it would be difficult to defend the officer's actions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnyderShrugged Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 I'm going to hold off passing judgement until the whole story comes out. While I do agree if he's getting attacked by 2 people with weapons (or bottles in this case) then he has a duty to protect himself and his family. However, I find it somewhat hard to believe that these individuals attacked him unprovoked with his wife and kids there. Also shooting them does seem a bit harsh. provoked or not, if they attacked him with deadly force, he was right to shoot them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdiamond Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 provoked or not, if they attacked him with deadly force, he was right to shoot them. It doesn't sound like deadly force to me. A serious head wound could just be a large cut. Plus I'm sure they got the statement from the police themselves regarding his injuries. Not to say they'd doctor it up, but they try to protect their own. He couldn't been hurt to the point where he was that incapaciated seeing how he shot and hit 2 suspects. Again, not trying to defend them in what happened, but people are quick to rush to judgment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monte51Coleman Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 For me, there is far too little information to form an intelligent opinion. As with most things like this, the speculation toward what actually happened is often wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willmb5 Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 For me, there is far too little information to form an intelligent opinion. As with most things like this, the speculation toward what actually happened is often wrong. I'm going to agree with this. Although I must admit, it seems like it could be excessive force at first glance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 There's lots of information that isn't in the article. Like, did he identify himself, or give the bottle people a chance to surrender/desist? A gun seems a bit of an excessive response to a bottle. But not too excessive, to me. (IMO, it's close to the line, but not over it.) However, pending the inevitable information that will come out in a day or two, sounds to me like a case of "brought a bottle to a gunfight". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacase Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 If they hit him in the head with a bottle then they deserve to get shot. Threat to his life as well as that of his families. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsBry Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 I have no problem with it as long as he doesn't get special treatment for being a cop. If it is ok for him to legally shoot people that attack him, I should be able to legally shoot anyone that attacks me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corcaigh Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 I'd want to hear a more complete account before deciding if his actions were justified. How close were the assailants? How many were there? Was it a thrown bottle or a club which the assailant still hadin their hand? Were there other weapons? What did the assailants do when he pulled his gun? If it was a single thrown bottle it would seem to be excessive to shoot two people. If it was a group of armed people coming for a second attack, it would not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#98QBKiller Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 There's lots of information that isn't in the article. Like, did he identify himself, or give the bottle people a chance to surrender/desist? I'd like to know this before passing judgment on the situation. I can see a case for both sides of the argument BTW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacase Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Ok people come one. Think about it. You get hit in the head with a bottle, chances are you are a little dazed or stunned, you are bleeding a lot (significant head wound) you are with your wife and kid. Do you truly expect him to identify himself (which really doesn't matter if he does or does not) try to talk them down try to determine how many weapons they do have, etc? He did what he should have done, protect his family. All this second guess is crazy, this probably happened in a span of less than 5 seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monte51Coleman Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12686873?source=rss Off-duty cop shoots 2 men after Angels game Associated Press Posted: 06/25/2009 05:54:05 AM PDT Updated: 06/25/2009 08:01:17 AM PDT An off-duty police officer shot and wounded two men who he said had choked him and hit him in the head with beer bottles in the crowded Angel Stadium parking lot after Wednesday night's Colorado Rockies-Los Angeles Angels game, authorities said. The officer had arrived at his car with his wife and two small children about 25 minutes after the game when he came across the two men he would shoot, police Sgt. Tim Schmidt said. "We think he was the victim of a crime," Schmidt said. The officer called a dispatcher at his department and asked for help, saying two men had choked him and asked him to get away from his car, Sgt. Rick Martinez said. The men then hit the officer on the head with beer bottles, and the officer shot one of the men in the chin and the other in the upper arm with his duty weapon, Martinez said. The man shot in the chin was in a hospital in critical condition this morning, the other was in serious but stable condition. The officer also was taken to a hospital with a head wound, but was released early today, Martinez said. Martinez said the officer's cell phone remained connected to the department during the confrontation and dispatchers were able to hear much of the struggle. He picked up the phone after the shooting and again asked for help. No one else in the parking lot was hurt, Martinez said. The Orange County District Attorney's office joined the Anaheim Police department in investigating the incident, which is required in officer-involved shootings. The names of the officer and shooting victims were not immediately released. The Angels had beaten the Rockies 11-3 earlier in the evening. Rachel Cordova was among the startled and confused fans in the parking lot. "We heard three shots and turned around and I thought, 'those are guns shots,'" Cordova told KNX radio. "One of the guys I was with said 'no, it's not' but then we heard sirens.'" Cordova said she then walked toward the scene. "I left there and saw a young, maybe 20-year-old male laying on the ground without his shirt, and they were attending to him," she said. The shooting was one of three major violent incidents at Southern California ballparks this season. A man died two days after getting into a fight on opening day at Angel Stadium in April, and another man was stabbed multiple times at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles after that team's home opener but survived. ______________________________________________________________________________ Based on the info in this article, the shooting sounds justified to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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