Un-freaking-Believable!!!!

[SemperFiGuy]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/08/10/woman-fatally-shot-in-accident-during-fla-citizen-police-academy-lethal-force-simulation/

Your head won't stop shaking.

Then there's the side story about Monday's shootings in Chicago.   Looks like all those strict Chicago/Illinois gun laws are working just fine.

sfg

[Mali]

A terrible tragedy indeed. A poor choice by the officer to use an actual firearm instead of a simulated firearm. Even if there wasn't one available there should always be checks to validate that there is no live ammo in the training area what so ever.

I have no doubt that the officer is traumatized as well. Prayers for all involved.

[GreyGeek]

A terrible tragedy indeed. A poor choice by the officer to use an actual firearm instead of a simulated firearm. Even if there wasn't one available there should always be checks to validate that there is no live ammo in the training area what so ever.

I have no doubt that the officer is traumatized as well. Prayers for all involved.

Indeed.  Always treat a firearm as if it was loaded.  The officer may have thought there were blanks in his pistol.   The husband said he forgave and did not cast blame.    The comments section, however, seem populated with perfect people who never make mistakes.

[Kendahl]

I'm not inclined to be forgiving. Professional gun handling is part of police officer's duty. This incident required multiple levels of failure by the officer and his supervisors. It was on the same level as leaving his cruiser in gear with the engine running and no parking brake. I would be interested in knowing what would happen to a member of the armed forces who did the same. I suspect he would be looking at a court martial, prison time and a dishonorable discharge.

[JAK]

I just saw a report on this on the news, the picture that was shown had the victum holding what looked like a simunition gun (Blue Framed Glock).  It was also reported that she was shot twice.

This dose not make any sense at all.

John K

[SemperFiGuy]

Could be that the LEO "cleared" his weapon simply by removing the magazine.   Then forgot to proceed on to rack and peek.

From that point, all it would take to discharge the semi-auto is point-and-pull trigger.

At any rate, using a working handgun instead of a Blue Gun for a simulated conflict situation is never an acceptable practice.

Because:

"Never point a firearm at anything which you do not wish to kill or destroy."

Never.


sfg

[JAK]

According to the news report the cop was using a revolver.

John K

[depserv]

I'm amazed that police of all people would ignore the first two rules of gun safety so flagrantly:

Treat every gun as though it's loaded;

Don't point a gun at anything you do not intend to shoot.

How many people have been killed with an "unloaded" gun?

There are good reasons for redundant safety practices: if one fails another one should still prevent a tragedy.  But if you ignore all of them they can't do that.

I know nobody's perfect, but this was a pretty big imperfection.  I feel sorry for the one responsible for the tragedy (and for the victim's family too of course), and I'd really hate to be in his shoes.  Can you imagine how you'd feel after doing something like that? 

So let this be a reminder to all of us.  We are not so smart that we don't need to follow the rules.  They were made for very good reasons.

[Mali]

The USCCA has been doing a series of training videos lately using the StressVest product (http://stressvest.com/products/system/weapon/) and even they have some pretty tight rules on firearms on the training floor.  Anything that passes the line MUST be cleared by the RSOs and the bearer is marked with a armband if they are cleared. If anyone walks back across the line the armband is removed even if all they did was step across the line.

Even just stepping over the line and back does require a new verification so they are not playing around with safety in their training area.

Although I feel for the officer, there were poor choices were made and there is always a price for making a bad decision, in this case is was a woman's life. I have no doubt there will be repercussions in a lot of places over this, not just at that department.