Cops Blaze Away...at each other

EddieCoyle

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No one hit as cops blaze away -- at each other
Tuesday, April 4, 2006
By Lisa Medendorp
Gazette News Service

MUSKEGON -- Bullets peppered the wall, ceiling and refrigerator in a weekend incident during which two Muskegon police officers fired shots at each other inside a home.

``Thankfully, nobody was hurt,'' said Director of Public Safety Tony Kleibecker, who has launched an internal investigation and has placed both officers on paid administrative leave.

Three people, including one of the residents, 21-year-old Nicholas Johnson, were in the basement of the home when police burst through the front and rear doors.

``They thought the cops were going to shoot them,'' said the young man's father, Leo Johnson, 44. The elder Johnson and his girlfriend, who also live in the house, were not home when the incident occurred but arrived shortly afterward.

Leo Johnson said it turned out that ``the cops were shooting at each other.''

Kleibecker said the investigation was in the early stages but confirmed the officers shot at each other.

Police were dispatched to the home just before midnight on a report of a possible kidnapping, Kleibecker said.

A male caller to Muskegon Central Dispatch ``said he believed his ex-girlfriend was being held hostage in the residence,'' Kleibecker said. ``He met the officers near the scene.''

Officers knocked on the door and didn't get an answer, Kleibecker said.

Leo Johnson said his son wouldn't answer the door because he was wanted on a traffic-related warrant. Nicholas Johnson was in the home with a male friend and a young woman.
Kleibecker said officers ``apparently felt the woman was in grave danger and decided to attempt a forced entry through the front door and had some difficulty getting in.''

The account from Leo Johnson indicates police had problems with the front door but that suddenly both doors were forced open about the same time.

Leo Johnson said one officer came in through the back door near the basement steps and entered the kitchen. Then, the three people downstairs heard the officers shooting, he said.

``I've got about 15 bullet holes in my wall, one in the ceiling, one through the closet, and they even shot through the refrigerator,'' Leo Johnson said.

Kleibecker said ``in excess of a dozen shots were fired,'' and that one of the officers finally yelled to stop firing.

He declined to identify the officers involved, pending the outcome of the internal investigation.

``There was never a kidnapping, to the best of our knowledge,'' Kleibecker said.

``We are going to do a complete, thorough investigation,'' he said. ``We need to understand what happened, why it happened and how we can prevent this from happening again.''

Nicholas Johnson was arrested on the traffic warrant and was bonded out the same day. His friend was arrested on a warrant not related to the incident.

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They gotta get themselves a verbal signal of some kind, like, "I'm on the job!", and, of course, make a point not to shoot until they know what there're shooting at, and why.

Unbelievable!
 
Crappy timing to say the least but why not watch one door while attempting to break the other down. A bit dopey.
 
C-pher said:
I don't understand. Did they not each know that they were there? Was two different officers responding to the same call? Or were they there together?
More than likely together. One says, "I'll try this door, you go try the other". Or instead of just covering the other side of the house, the officer decided to bust in the other door on his own. As luck would have it, both enter simultaneously, bad.
 
JonJ said:
More than likely together. One says, "I'll try this door, you go try the other". Or instead of just covering the other side of the house, the officer decided to bust in the other door on his own. As luck would have it, both enter simultaneously, bad.

I would say Bad. If they were there together, then they should have known that each other were in the house.

I might be able to see one or two shots. But twelve? And I know Jon that I'm Monday monring QBing. But it seems that they should have known better. And you would know this better that I ever would, so I'm not trying to bash them. As I don't know what's going through each others heads.

And like C-X said, had some sort of signal so they would know that each other were in there.
 
Cross-X said:
I dunno about you, but I could empty six or eight shots in a very few coupla seconds if I thought I was gonna die.

Yes, I understand. But I was just thinking that after a few, one of them would have yelled "Police" and the other would konw that it was his buddy.

Like I said, I'm MMQBing. So I can't really say as I've never made an entry as I'm not LEO. And I don't think that playing CSI on my xBox counts. [grin]
 
What happened to the usual - "POLICE, DON'T MOVE" sorta introductory comments before starting the dance?

Inexperience does it every time.

RJ
 
Cross-X said:
I dunno about you, but I could empty six or eight shots in a very few coupla seconds if I thought I was gonna die.

The difference being that, as a COMPETENT shooter, your shots would have been on target.
 
Scrivener said:
The difference being that, as a COMPETENT shooter, your shots would have been on target.

You'd like to think that, wouldn't you? I mean, I consider myself a decent shot. Not great, mind you, but certainly competent.

I honestly have no freakin' clue how I'd do if the target were shooting back...

I certainly HOPE that I'd be able to maintain sight picture, trigger control, etc. I can't help but wonder how much the ol' pucker factor screws with that...
 
Jay G said:
I honestly have no freakin' clue how I'd do if the target were shooting back....

I think the day refrigerators and ceilings return fire, my trigger control will be the LEAST of my problems............
 
I'll bet it ends up being a case of young guns that lost control. Remember the poor immigrant guy in NY who was shot +/- 36 times and never had a gun? One of the shooters went to school in MA and was known by a friend of mine. The shooter was described to me as “the kid you would never want to see have a gun” and look what happened. I think most of us would like to think that the Police are well trained, disciplined and moral, but problems happen within the Police just like in civilian life. I live in a small town and I’m always surprised to see young officers who look like “skin heads”. What’s with the shaved heads, half gloves and combat boots? I must imagine this phenomenon of “young storm troopers” dressing to intimidate is not new. Now imagine sending these fellows into a house via front and back door simultaneously looking for a bad guy? Are we surprised they shot at each other? I’m surprised they only shot the refrigerator once and not 36 times!
 
Scrivener said:
I think the day refrigerators and ceilings return fire, my trigger control will be the LEAST of my problems............

[laugh]

Okay, good point there. It only (partially) excuses the second cop to shoot...

(Full disclosure: My father and grandfather, as well as uncles and cousins too numerous to count, were police officers. I'm probably a lot more sympathetic to the police than the next guy...)
 
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