“After reviewing all the evidence, I believe there can be little serious doubt that P.O. Manney was justified in firing at Dontre Hamilton, who was attacking him with a deadly weapon (baton). The more difficult issue is whether P.O. Manney fired more shots than necessary, or continued firing after he could reasonably perceive that Hamilton was clearly no longer a threat. Police officers in Milwaukee and throughout the United States are trained to fire to “stop the threat”. The 13 or 14 shots fired by P.O. Manney would, in all likelihood, have been fired in roughly 3 to 4 seconds total elapsed time, from first shot to last….

….While, as can be expected, the many witnesses to this event give varying accounts of what they saw and heard, several witnesses with the best, closest views of what occurred have stated that P.O. Manney stopped firing when Hamilton fell to the ground, and Manney did not continue firing after that point.

via Milwaukee officer shoots man 14 times, ruled “justified self-defense” | FOX CT.

I was cured long ago of the “one-shot, one-kill” malady and “stopping power”. Too many cases out there where a bad guy has absorbed amazing amounts of shots and pretty much kept going long enough to make you believe in monsters. In the latest issue of SWAT Magazine, there is a case where the criminal got shot with everything but a mini-gun and still kept coming with the only shot that made him non-threat was a non-lethal hit to the arm that broke the bones and rendered him unable to keep using his firearm.

Go read the whole thing as it is interesting and good info to process.

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By Miguel.GFZ

Semi-retired like Vito Corleone before the heart attack. Consiglieri to J.Kb and AWA. I lived in a Gun Control Paradise: It sucked and got people killed. I do believe that Freedom scares the political elites.

6 thoughts on “No set number of shots, only when the threat stops.”
  1. There was a police shooting in Warrensville, OH I think, back in the 80’s where four or five officer fired around 25-27 shots. The guy was so hopped up on PCP that he just kept going. This imaginary limit on shots fired is born of ignorance just like the shoot them in the leg, the only legitimate question is was deadly force needed.

  2. Anyone who has ever hunted big game has been disabused of the “knock-down” power myth of firearms a long time ago. If a 150lbs deer can take a .308 to the chest and jump up and run for 70 yards before perishing, I have no doubt that humans can put up a good fight after a single round of 9mm, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, or your pick of another sacred cow caliber.

  3. Also noteworthy is the officer’s use of the FULL range of the force spectrum. Started empty-handed, and when the threat kept coming, escalated to “less-lethal” (baton). When he was disarmed of that and the threat kept coming, only then did he draw his gun.

    Why no OC spray? At first, wrong side of the duty belt. Later, because contact distance is “too damn close” for OC spray – the officer would have been affected by it, too – and because “baton to head/neck area”, unlike the officer’s “baton to ribs”, constitutes deadly force and demands a deadly force response.

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