Here is a video..
My opinion: No.
With the little girl literally in the line of fire, it makes no sense to start the festivities. In fact, I think it is downright irresponsible. The shooter had a chance to move and use the pump as cover, it also means he could have retreated safely and let the bad guys take whatever they wanted but instead he muzzled the girl at least twice, maybe three times.
On the info accompanying the video, it says it was an off duty cop with his daughter. It makes more sense to me to snatch the girl and run away.
Stupid saved by sheer luck.
SO does this guy just let anybody by his car while he’s filling up?
Use your words, Wibbin. Heck, use your words in a “command voice” if you want to.
I’m not going to comment of why the guy thought he had to open fire, but I will say that being a cop may have contributed to the decision to open fire. Cops are not trained to, and do not think or practice de-escalation.
I’m just spitballing here, but being a cop may also have contributed to opening fire without first moving the child out of the line of fire. At our practical shooting meets we sometimes set up a scenario where shooting is just not possible without creating too much risk to the “hostage”. Yet cops who participate almost always shoot and come up with excuses for hitting the “hostage” instead of the bad guy when, in debriefing, they admit that before they fired they knew the shot was impossible to take without hitting the “hostage”. (Not all cops, take the shot, but the ones that do are all cops.)
And in answer to your question “Does this guy (think you meany “anybody”) by his car while he’s filling up – the answer is you try not to but unless they present an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury you don’t open up on them just because they are tools or looking to see if there is anything they could take.
stay safe.
In the second half of the vid from a different camera angle you can see that at least one BG has a pistol and points it toward the off duty cop. Without knowing more I will side with the off duty cop. Thugs down there may routinely shoot first even if you try to run, and trying to move your child to safety may not be a viable option. If he ran he may have just been shot in the back or his child grabbed. Anyway, split second decisions do not prove officers are not trained to de-escalate. It’s just that sometimes there are no good choices.
I admit I had not seen the gun in the hand of white shirt/jeans/IS THAT A SKI MASK?!!? guy.. However, the video goes from 0:15 to 0:19 while the guy takes three big steps back before he begins to shoot. He walked right past the kid to reach the spot he fired from. That also meant moving away from whatever cover might have been provided by the pump assembly.
Monday morning quarterbacking is, we all know, a lot more fun and a lot easier than being on the spot in real time. But I’d still hate to be him when Momma watches that video over and over and over and ….
stay safe.
“Stupid saved by dumb luck.”
There. FTFY. š
Before reading your description, I said to myself “that has GOT to be a cop” when I saw him shoot over the head of his little girl.
In his defense, it is quite easy to become fixated on the target and get tunnel vision, which is very likely what happened. Likely, he only saw the bad guy. Daughter was not in the immediately line of fire (in front of his sights), so he was good to go, or something like that.
Another software issue. Yes, more training will solve it.
On the plus side, he did appear to hit one (maybe both) of his targets, so there’s that going for him.