Two policemen and suspect fire off at least 103 rounds during shootout.
Two policemen and suspect fire off at least 103 rounds during shootout. Total number of injuries: 0
Police shootout leaves none hurt
Gathering evidence
STEVEN ADAMS/tribune-Review
By Brian Bowling and Brandon Keat
Sunday, June 5, 2005
Two undercover policemen and a shooting suspect fired at least 103 rounds during an early morning shootout Saturday that jolted residents of a Homewood housing complex, but resulted in no injuries.
"All I heard was 'Pow! Pow! Bing! Bing!' Then you started hearing the police," said Homewood resident Tracey Taylor, who was in bed when the shooting started. "We thought they were at war up here -- shooting out car windows. It was crazy."
Two undercover police officers dove from their car as the shooting started, police said. One bullet passed through the driver's headrest and into the back seat where a third officer, who was off yesterday morning, normally sat. Another bullet passed through the passenger's side doorframe, barely missing the second officer.
"It was a very close call for the officers," said Pittsburgh police Chief Robert W. McNeilly Jr.
The suspect fled, and police fanned out around the Ferris Court housing complex, while a police helicopter hovered overhead shining a spotlight on the scene.
Keith Carter, 19, of Homewood, was arrested and charged with two counts each of attempted homicide and aggravated assault, as well as reckless endangerment and a firearms violation. He was in the Allegheny County Jail yesterday evening awaiting arraignment.
The two police officers have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard policy in police shootings. They were not identified yesterday, but McNeilly said their names would be released on Monday.
Yesterday's shooting was the second in the past eight days involving city police. On May 27, Zone 5 Patrolmen Charles Lukitsch, Philip Lerza and Shawn Dady killed Vincent Napper, 28, after he opened fire on the officers in Lincoln-Lemington after a car chase, police said.
McNeilly said there was no connection between the Napper shooting and the one that allegedly involved Carter.
Police said yesterday's gunbattle began after they responded to a shooting at a home along Race Street at 3:20 a.m. The victim, William Ford, 26, was shot in the legs and taken to UPMC Presbyterian hospital, Oakland, where police said he was in serious-but-stable condition.
"We consider (Carter) a suspect in that case, but at this point in the investigation, he has not been charged," said police Lt. Kevin Kraus said.
About 25 officers responded to the call, including an undercover unit known as the "99 car," which specializes in "guns, drugs and gangs," said McNeilly.
The two undercover officers had been searching for a suspect in an unrelated case when the Race Street call came in, he said.
Their search for leads took them to Ferris Court, where they reportedly saw Carter walking down the street, McNeilly said.
McNeilly said that the two officers have had 12 to 15 encounters with Carter this year, which he would not detail. Carter immediately recognized the officers and began firing rapidly with a Tec-9 submachine gun, McNeilly said.
The officers became involved in a running gun battle as Carter allegedly fled down the street. At least 103 rounds were fired by the suspect and the two officers, Kraus said.
Officers tracked Carter to a house in Ferris Court, which he entered through the rear door. Kraus said police called the home and told everyone to come out. Seven people emerged, including Carter, police said.
He was arrested without further incident, and the six others -- including at least one juvenile -- were taken into custody for questioning. Police recovered a Tec-9 from the rear of the house. Police said they believe it was the weapon used in the shooting.
Kraus said no one else in the home has been charged in the case at this point, but a 9 mm pistol and large amount of heroin and crack cocaine were recovered from the home.
While police haven't determined a motive for the Race Street shooting, McNeilly said officers familiar with the neighborhood told him that a group from the Race Street area has been feuding with people in the Ferris Court area. He said he didn't know the underlying cause of the feud.
perhaps we can arm them with rocks? maybe they can throw better than we shoot.. i know all about the poor shooting though... some guy from around here didnt qualify about 3 times in a row... was supposed to not have a gun because of it, but they kept him on.. luckily though we have a couple guys on the force that are good with guns -- competition shooters and whatnot... one of them is a friend of mine and he has a large stand at the gun show.. mostly fancy target pistols with scopes and whatnot, but i do see him in the actual gun shop now and then.. good to know a few of them not only are good at their job, but like to shoot also
This just goes to show we need to spend more time covering aimed fire. I strill remember spending 4 hours searching for a spent casing after killing a pitbull while on duty. Wonder if these guys had to account for thier casings.
During a gunfight, several things will happen to you that are easily handled if you know that they are coming. Some of them are physical, while others are purely mental.
Most of the physical complications are the result of the "Fight-or-Flight" reflex. This is the body's reaction to extreme stress. Your hands will get clammy (cold and wet), the muscles become stronger, the arms and legs tremble, your mouth gets dry, and you may experience an intense desire to go to the restroom, if you haven't already done it..
Some of the mental manifestations are: tunnel vision, auditory exclusion (you won't hear the gun go off), and tachypsychia (an altered perception of time; everything seems to go into slow motion).
Most of these reactions can be minimized by technique. The Isosceles stance takes advantage of increased strength. Keeping the eyes moving and searching will compensate for the tunnel vision. Tachypsychia actually accents your performance under stress, but it MUST be considered during your recollection of events. We will talk about this in the chapter about Post-shooting events.
THE MIND GAME
In a perfect world, this chapter (nor this book, for that matter) would not be necessary. But our world isn't perfect and your life may sometimes force you to engage in struggles with criminals. This section is designed to give you a brief overview of the skills needed to defend yourself should the need arise.
A. The Color Code of Situational Awareness.
Your ability to win a conflict is dependent on your ability to identify a potential situation and be prepared for it. Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper, a noted firearms trainer, modified the military's color code for civilian and law enforcement use. They are:
Condition WHITE: totally unprepared, not aware of surroundings.
If caught in condition WHITE, you will likely be overwhelmed before being able to counter-attack. The only time that an armed person should be in Condition WHITE is when they are asleep.
Condition YELLOW: relaxed awareness, aware of surroundings, but not concentrating on any specific threat. Any armed person should live in Condition YELLOW.
Condition ORANGE: attention is concentrated on a potential threat, based upon instincts and observation- think tactics.
Condition RED: aware of danger, prepare to respond or take evasive action immediately. Here you have a tendency to revert to conditioned response (read: TRAINING)
It has been noted that Condition YELLOW is not paranoia. A person can live their entire life in Condition YELLOW with no ill effects.
B. The Combat Mindset.
Now that you are aware of your surroundings, you are more prepared for a fight than the average person. To act effectively in a gunfight, you must be prepared for several things:
First of all, you must not be willing to lose. Losing a gunfight usually means your death or very serious injury. Everything that goes through your mind must be geared toward one thing: WINNING. There is no consolation prize in a gunfight. There are winners and losers.
Secondly, CHEAT ! If you're not cheating, you're not trying hard enough. This is not duelling. There is no honor here. You can bet that your opponent will not be giving up anything in the name of gentlemanly honor. Take full advantage of his mistakes and shortcomings. What he has in pure savagery, you must counteract with calmness, smoothness, and tactics. The average criminal is not a tactician, he can be defeated by your brains and skills.
Third, if you happen to get hit by one of your opponent's bullets, DON'T GIVE UP. Keep fighting until you can't fight any more. Your opponent may still lose the fight. If you give up, all he has to do is walk up to you and shoot point blank.
Fourth, your body is going to play some tricks on you. All these are part of the basic mammalian FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT reflex. Your hands get sweaty, your heart pounds, your large muscle groups get stronger, and most people feel a need to vomit or relieve themselves. This is totally normal. No problem.
The problem comes with two things that your mind does. It wants to focus on the threat. It does this by narrowing the field of view to a small area (tunnel vision) and not hearing extraneous noise (auditory exclusion). So now, two of our most important senses (sight and hearing) are compromised. Since we're expecting it, we can correct for it. Because the field of view is narrowed and you can't hear your opponent, move your eyes more. Make an effort to scan the area.
Along with the tunnel vision and auditory exclusion, the mind will shift into the sub-conscious mode. The sub-conscious operates much faster than the conscious, so your perception of time becomes altered. Think back to the last time you had an accident (car wreck) or fell down. It seemed to happen in slow motion, didn't it. Most fights also happen in slow motion. That is due to a phenomenon called tachypsychia. There are numerous accounts of gunfight participants that recall seeing the front sight, squeezing the trigger, seeing the shot hit, and not seeing a reaction. The person thought that they had missed and fired again. They thought that the time between shots was a couple of seconds. But eyewitnesses usually report that it was "boom, boom, boom", very rapidly. Although it seems that the accounts are different, they really aren't. The participants brain was noticing ALL the details of the gunfight. The witnesses were just giving a quick overview of the scene. The shooter's brain was in overdrive and he did have time to see all the things that he said.
Knowing that this altered perception of time occurs will help you in two ways. You know that the fight may occur in slow motion. Since you know this, you can concentrate on being smooth and composed, not rushed and jerky in your movements. Also, some lawyers will attempt to take advantage of the fact that your testimony of the events of the fight will differ from the account of eyewitnesses. They will try to make you look like a liar. Because you know about tachypsychia, you know not to make definitive time references if you get asked.
The story began in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in August of 1984. A newspaper woman named Deborah Sykes drove her blue Opal Kadett to work at 6 o'clock in the morning. She'd only been working at The Sentinel for a few weeks, but she had already learned the best place to park her car for free - a street with no parking meters, just a block and a half from the paper.
Deborah was not a small woman; at 25 years old, 5'10" and 150 pounds, she did not look like a "typical" victim. Nor did she behave like one - she was outspoken, candid, determined, very alert, and very sure of herself. Nobody knows why they chose her, maybe she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. As she was walking from her car to work, she was abducted by two men. They took her to a nearby field, raped her probably more than once, and stabbed her upper body repeatedly. Eventually, she bled to death.
This all happened just two blocks from where Jean (a pseudonym) worked as a secretary for a small publishing company.
The police quickly apprehended a suspect named Darryl Hunt, and charged him with Deborah's murder. But the newspapers prominently announced that the police were continuing to search for Darryl's tall companion, vaguely described as "20 to 25 years old, ... medium build, wearing dark clothes."
The section of town where the Sykes murder occurred was neither good, nor particularly bad, but bordered on both kinds of territories. All types of people were there. Jean thought about what it meant for a rapist/murderer accomplice to be loose in the neighborhood.
A month later, one Monday in September, Jean went to work as usual. Her boss was on vacation, so her co-workers left early; from 3 o'clock on, she was the only person in the building.
Long after it was over, Jean said, "I knew the other people's schedules, so I knew that I was going to be alone. I knew about the Darryl Hunt / Deborah Sykes murder, and that the accomplice was still on the loose, so I brought my gun in with me that day. I was carrying at that time a 6" barrel, Dan Wesson .357 magnum loaded with 125 grain jacked hollow points."
It is illegal in North Carolina to carry concealed in any way, shape, or form. Jean normally kept her gun locked in her car's glove compartment, which was legal because it was "inaccessible" to her there.
Jean hoped that she would never have to use her gun, but ... much better to have it and not need it than the other way around. So, in with her it came. When Jean left work at 5 o'clock that afternoon, she had her purse over her shoulder, and a notebook and some other papers in her left hand. Her right hand held her car keys. The revolver was laid in the crook of her left arm, held against her body, hidden by the notebook and papers, so that it wouldn't be obvious to anybody walking by who might start screaming, "My God, there's a crazy lady carrying a Great Big Gun!"
Did I mention that Jean is a very small woman? At 5'2" and 110 pounds, she didn't have a great deal of upper body strength, or stamina. She was wearing a moderately slim skirt that reached below her knees, a blouse, and high heels - typical office garb, but not suitable for running.
She went out the back door, where the parking lot was. Well, to call it a parking lot is being kind. It was actually more of a long alley, with four angle parking spaces on one side.
For security, the doors on Jean's building locked automatically when they closed. A stone staircase led from the back door up into the middle of the alley. As Jean stepped out of the building, she heard and felt the door lock behind her in the same moment that she noticed there were two cars in the parking lot. One was her own Mustang II about 30 feet away, the other, parked just beyond it, was, in Jean's words "the god-awfulest looking yellow Pinto you've ever seen in your life. I mean, it was rust! It was yellow and rust. It was in really bad shape."
When Jean saw the man in the car, "the Darryl Hunt thing" flashed briefly through her mind, but that thought was immediately followed by, "Nah, this is not going to happen to me. This is not who this guy is." Nonetheless, it seemed a good idea to put her right hand on the grip of the revolver, just in case. "He won't see the gun, so it won't scare him," she thought.
She stepped toward her car, and immediately he got out of his . He was now staring directly at her. Jean was aware from that moment on that he never took his eyes off her, not even briefly.
He was a young man, anywhere from late teens to 25. He was not terribly tall, but at about 140 pounds he was substantially taller and stronger than tiny Jean. He was nondescript looking; he didn't have glasses or a mustache or scars from acne. He wore his hair in a style that was very popular at that time. He and Jean were alone in the alley; there was no reason that she could see for him to be there.
When he first got out of his car, Jean couldn't see his hands, so she didn't know whether he had a weapon. As she continued edging toward her car, she thought about his odd behavior. If you meet a stranger in an alley, the normal thing to do is either to not make eye contact at all, or to do so briefly and then look away or begin to speak. "He never said anything. He never said a word to me. He didn't behave as though he were drunk. And I've not been around enough people who were drugged to really know about that, but he was not acting crazy."
He came out from behind the car, and Jean could finally see his hands: no weapon. But he might have a gun on him somewhere, or a knife. Not wanting to turn her back on him to return to the stairs and the door she would have to unlock, and knowing she was too far from either end of the alley to run to safety, she reluctantly continued toward her car. The alley opened onto a fairly major highway that was, at 5 o'clock, filled with fast moving cars whose drivers never glanced to the side. She was aware that she could scream forever and nobody would hear.
The distance between them was rapidly diminishing. He was close enough to cover the distance in no time. Jean's sense of extreme unease quickly turned to genuine fear as it became clearer and clearer that his intentions were not innocent. The pros and cons of alternative plans of action poured through her mind, tangled up with feelings about the encounter. "Can I run?" No, he's too close. I don't want to turn my back on him. I really don't want to turn my back on him! I don't think I can outrun him. And, ... I don't want him to get any closer to me! I'm afraid to let him get closer. I don't want to let him get close enough to me to touch me!"
Describing it later, Jean continues, "I couldn't think of anything to say. It was like my tongue was literally frozen to the roof of my mouth. I mean, I couldn't say anything! I was scared! ... As soon as he got out of his car and started toward me and he never said anything, I immediately thought, 'This is the guy. This is him, and I'm going to be raped, and murdered, in this parking lot!'"
At this point, things started to slow down. She seemed to be thinking and moving in slow motion. Fortunately, the man coming toward her seemed in slow motion, too. Jean wondered about the sensation. "I'm probably losing my mind", she thought, "But I'm going to be dead soon anyway, so it doesn't matter." She didn't know about tachypsychia, a mental state which is very common under conditions of extreme stress, but she was experiencing it in full.
In slow motion, he continued toward her, still not talking. If he'd wanted to know the time or directions or something, he would have asked by now, but the he clearly wasn't after the time. Jean edged closer to the wall, trying to put more distance between them, so that he could reach the staircase, if that's where he was headed, without coming close to her. But as soon as she moved, he turned to face her - obviously he wasn't headed for the stairs! She couldn't back up any further - another step back would literally put her back against the wall. There was nowhere to go! As he took another step, they within a few feet of one another. One more step and he could touch her!
Let's let Jean tell what happened then.
"I dropped ... everything but the gun. My keys, I dropped. My purse came off ... I dropped everything! I had a mess around me. And it felt like everything fell in slow motion. I have never been that scared before or since.
"I had the gun ... I remember I had a very firm grip on it, and I brought it up. And as soon as he saw the gun, and saw the look on my face, he stopped. He immediately froze. He did not keep coming. He still did not say anything.
"We stood there and stared at each other for what felt like a week. Or two! You know all the TV shows where they come out with the hip one-liners - it's bull! I couldn't think of anything to say! I was still ... I was almost ... I wasn't sure my voice was going to work! And I didn't want to come out with a really high, squeaky voice, because I didn't want to give any mixed messages.
"It (the gun) was between us. I started up with it, and he stopped. So I stopped. ... I had a red ramp front sight, and I saw the red ramp in the middle of his chest."
"He was eyeing the gun. . . . He did freeze! And we stayed there, frozen. It finally dawned on me that he was waiting for me to tell him to do something!
"And what I told him was not a good idea. It was not right, but it was all I could think of. My brain finally worked enough to tell him, 'Move!' Which was probably ambiguous, but it was a one syllable word. I couldn't get out more than one syllable. 'Go away' would have been great, but it was too many words! But he evidently understood what 'move' referred to. He still never said anything. He backed away from me. He didn't go to his car. He backed across the parking lot past both cars, and he got maybe 25' away from me diagonally. And he turned around and ran.
"And I stood there. Again, I didn't know what to do. It took a while for anything to start registering. I was almost waiting for ... I don't know ... somebody to tell me what to do. And there was nobody there.
"My hands were shaking so much by that point that it took a while for me to gather my stuff up. I kept picking it up and dropping it, picking it up and dropping it. I was pouring sweat, none of which I had noticed before. It finally dawned on me that I could hear - I could hear traffic going by on the main highway in front!
"I refused to put the gun down. It was as though it was glued in my hand! I refused to put it down. I just knew, in my gut, that if I put it down, he or somebody would jump me immediately. It sounds crazy, and I thought I was a little nuts.
"My mind was still not working really right, and I was almost in tears. It was relief that I was still alive, that I was not hurt, and that I didn't have to shoot the guy. I was really glad that I didn't have to shoot him. I hope I never have to shoot anybody, I really do! I know from my experience that I will, if I have to. It may make me sick for a while, but I'd rather be sick, and face the legal consequences, than to end up the way that newspaper woman did. I like my life, and I'm willing to fight for it. ... " Her voice drops to a whisper, "I just hope I'm never that scared again."
Jean finally gathered up her belongings, and got into her car. Despite the blazing North Carolina summer afternoon, she locked all the doors and rolled all the windows up! She says "I just wanted to get out of there! I wanted to get somewhere safe."
It seemed to take forever, but Jean finally got home. When her husband arrived later that night, he found his still frightened wife barricaded behind double locked doors, with several loaded guns near to hand. His understanding and support helped her through the aftermath of the encounter.
In the nine years since then, Jean has told very few people what happened. She never told the police. She knows she should have, but at the time she was concerned about the legal consequences of having taken her gun to work. Who knows how many other incidents of self-protection go unreported because people fear they will get into trouble for having the means to protect themselves?
Now, Jean goes armed everywhere she possibly can, even though that means carrying illegally. She is working hard to get the law changed so that concealed carry by private citizens in her state will be legal. With greatest sincerity, she says that she never wants to use her gun again. "I hope that's it. I've had my share, and it's over. But you never know ... " She says with equal sincerity and conviction that she will use it if she has to.
"I'm just glad that I had it. I think that everybody should make their own decisions. But if you've made the decision, you need to have the gun with you. There are times when there's nothing else going to work! . . . It taught me that if you only carry when you think you'll need it, you won't have it with you when you do"
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