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1961-1965…U.S.M.C. Corporal in the infantry. |
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material is copyright 12-2009
A Traitor To His Oath
For the reader:
this shooting account is long…because it
outlines an armed serial rapist.
September,
1990, and for the following eleven months, seven young women were raped
in a
total of nine related attacks. It came to be known as the, ‘The Beach
Rape
Series’. The rapists’ MO was to strike while armed with a handgun, and
in the
very early morning hours at a particularly quiet beach area in Fact: resistance by targeted victims against a lone attacker is usually successful. There are risks…just as there are risks in doing nothing…as you will read. Case #1 September 15; 1990; 2 a.m., an armed intrusion in the affluent beach community of Case #2 June 15, 1991; early morning, a man and woman on the beach were confronted by a man with a gun, and wearing a ski mask. The male was ordered to return to his car for his wallet. He complied fearing that the threats of injuries to his girlfriend would be carried out if he did not. The suspect raped the woman left behind while her boyfriend was gone. Author’s notes: What this man did (leaving his girlfriend behind while going for the money, and trusting the crook that obedience would insure no injuries to his girlfriend) seems foolish, and it is. But, it’s not uncommon. Genteel men and women suddenly thrust into the darkness of violence by armed men threatening their worst fears and ugliest of crimes are also suddenly faced with decisions that must be made in a split second; decisions that may carry the consequences of life or death. These genteel and civilized men & women are certain to make mistakes they will regret all of their lives. The mistakes are inevitable because real crime goes down fearsome fast, split-second decisions must be made, and there are no second chances. Case #3 July 4, 1991; Barry & Kathy’s Story.
Barry: Kathy and I were
vacationing in Barry: I sat up immediately too. I gave him the keys, and said, ‘Take them, no problem’. Then he ordered us to turn around and get on our knees. We obeyed. He was probably about 3-4 feet behind us. Kathy: All I could think about was an incident in our hometown. These guys robbed a Bowling Alley, and ordered all the people to turn around. As soon as they obeyed, the robbers started shooting them in their backs. Four or five were killed; seven or so were wounded, including children. Barry: I told Kathy, ‘let’s be cool. Let’s do what he says’. Kathy: With our backs to this man, all I could think of was death. I felt a sense of doom doing as he ordered us to do. But, neither Barry nor I knew what to do otherwise. So, we obeyed him. Then he handed me some duct tape, and told me to tie up Barry. I was shaking so much that I messed up the tape. ‘You bitch, you messed it up…gimme your belts’, he half-shouted. Everything coming out of his mouth was, M-F this and M-F that. Barry: He ordered us to get our heads down. We were still on our knees. We obeyed that command too. Kathy: Then he took my scarf to tie up Barry. After he did that, he moved Barry about 20 feet away from me. Barry: We had been so abruptly awakened and were so completely controlled, his gun and all…we believed that our only way out was to obey him. Cooperate and it will be over soon…we won’t be hurt or worse. We believed that! I wasn’t thinking clearly! We had chances! Probably our best chance was when he tied me up. He had to set his gun down to use both hands tying me. But, that didn’t even register in my mind at the time. Then he moved me about 20 feet away from Kathy and ordered me to lie face down. The roar of the surf made it difficult to hear well. Then he pulled my shirt up and over my head. My hands were bound very tightly with the tape, I couldn’t hear anything but the surf, and could not see anything. He had me neutralized. I was so terrified…if I screamed, Barry might hear. And, if he did, he would explode, and that might cause this man to shoot Barry. Damn! Damn! Damn! When he finished, he gathered up his things and our belongings, ATM cards and stuff. He told me to get dressed, and to go a short distance away…he kept his gun on me. I did, but watched him. He quickly ran off. I ran to Barry. After untying him, we both ran back to the houses above the beach. I felt so dirty…just gross. Barry still did not know. When I told Barry, ‘I have to go to the hospital right away, he raped me’. Barry just lost it…screaming, I’ve got to find that bastard’. I yelled, it doesn’t matter. Barry grabbed me, hugged me, and we ran together to a house. Barry: We made mistakes. I guess we were two of his easier victims. I’ve second-guessed myself a thousand times since that night. I had never been around a gun. I now understand why people carry guns…I’m a convert to them. I’ve now made sure if anything like that were to face us again, I would be the one ending it…my way. Kathy: I will never be raped again…never…it doesn’t matter his weapon or how he injures me. Case #4 July 6, 1991; early morning, a young man and woman walking on the beach were confronted by a lone male attacker wearing a ski mask and holding a gun. The male victim was tied, moved a short distance away…then the attacker returned to the young woman and raped her. Case #5 July 14, 1991; early afternoon, this was the only deviation from his MO; he rode his mountain bike onto a state park trail near the beach area. In that woodsy area, he ambushed a passing jogger, lunging at her like a Mountain Lion…then dragging her from the trail into the heavy brush…there he raped her. Case #6 July 19, 1991; early morning hours, a man and a woman walking on the beach are confronted by a man with a gun wearing a ski mask. The male is bound with duct tape, and moved a short distance away. But, the woman resists the rape, and escapes. The would-be rapist also escapes. Case #7 July 20, 1991; early morning, two young girls with a male friend (all three 13-15 years of age) are confronted by a male…ski mask & gun again. The boy is bound and moved a short distance away. Both girls are raped in succession while on the sand side-by-side. Authors note: As with most cases similar to these, men and women seldom have register for them that the attackers’ gun is not in his hand while he binds their hands in some manner. And, as well, when two young girls are raped side-by-side in succession, it’s rare for either to scream nor resist. The reasons for those two gaps in decision-making has nothing to do with lack of courage…the problem is: 1)
Lack
of education…never having had a mental picture painted for
them of
what goes down at real crime scenes…without sugar-coating; never been
told the
odds against them versus for them, and that those odds increase &
decrease
according to what they do versus don’t do. 2)
Lack
of training…never having been given the mindset for escape.
That
mindset begins with, ‘Expect to get hurt’. Case #8 August 10, 1991; Dan & Licia’s story. Licia: We had just finished watching David Letterman. We poured a glass of Scotch, and went outside to sit on the bluffs above the beach. It was a warm night, and the cloud cover made it especially dark. His first words were, ‘You got any keys on ya’? His voice was very calm, almost a whisper. I answered, ‘Yes’, and tossed the keys in his direction. He asked where the car was, I told him. Then I told him, ‘Take the car, my wallet is in it, there’s money in it, take it all, whatever you want is yours’. Licia: He said, ‘Okay, Okay’, but he kept looking around nervously, like he didn’t really care about the car. Then he pointed to a steep path that winds down the cliffs to the beach and said, ‘Okay, I gotta make sure nobody follows me, so I want you to go down the bluff’. His voice was still very calm. He didn’t really seem aggressive or threatening. Looking back, I think he wanted us to believe he just wanted the car…nothing else. Dan: I knew that path…it’s real steep. At that point I believed, or wanted to believe, that he was just a car thief. So, I thought the best thing to do was to follow his orders. So, I agreed to go down the winding path; ‘Okay, but that’s a steep trail. There’s an easier way to get down about 50 yards from here.’ That’s when his tone changed. All of a sudden, he got loud and aggressive. He straightened up from his crouch and said, ‘Shut up, do what I tell you. We’re going down the M-F cliff. Do what I tell you.’ He had changed so instantly, that it really scared me. Then it clicked for me. ‘This guy is no car thief. This is the guy I’ve heard about on the news…the one they call the Beach Rapist.’ < A few days before, I had read the story in the newspaper; same vicinity, where Licia & I am now, a rapist with a ski mask and a gun…just last week he had tied up a man with duct tape and a scarf, then raped his fiancée. Imagining that happening to a couple…like Licia & I…was very disturbing. When I had read the article, I had remembered something my mother had told me months earlier; she had taken a protection program given by an off-duty police sergeant, and she had passed onto to me something he had said to the class as crucial. She told me, ‘…he said, never let them move you, never…’! When that decision came back to me, I decided right then, ‘…we’re not going down that cliff…whatever the cost.’ It’s hard to describe now, but that decision calmed me down. I was still afraid. But, deciding what was not going to be done to us, instead of only what he was telling us to do…that switch, I guess it was my switch in attitude, it all helped me in what I was going to do. I began to feel less paralyzed. I didn’t feel so doomed anymore. We were not going to follow his orders to move further down into a darker and more isolated area. Somehow, I knew anything was better than following his orders. The change I felt in me then…I feel it all over again sitting here…it was incredible. Licia: I hadn’t heard about the rapes in the area, so I just thought this guy was a car thief. I wanted to believe that if we did what he said, he wouldn’t hurt us. But, when he started to get more aggressive, I felt panicky. Still, my instincts were to just follow his orders. I started to walk in the direction he wanted us to go, but I felt Dan’s hand on my waist…guiding me in the opposite direction. At the same time, Dan whispered, “Run”. Dan: After I told Licia to run, I took off toward the apartment building. I ran right past the guy…he was maybe 5 yards away from me. Then I turned up the embankment. Then the worst happened…I fell flat into the ice plant on the embankment. I was scrambling to get my feet under me again, and I slipped again. Scrambling to get up and running only to slip again. I was in full panic…expecting to hear shots any second. I finally, after what seemed an eternity of panic, got up, and was running. He never fired even one round at us. I thought Licia would run in the same direction as me, but she had taken off in the opposite direction. It worked beautifully. It was probably all pretty confusing to him…especially my up & down scrambling in the ice plant. To run sounds pretty desperate, but it was a pretty desperate situation. Licia: I think the most important thing I learned from the experience is to never let them gain total control. And, don’t believe them. Never! Something terrible would have happened to one or both of us if we had obeyed him and moved further down that trail. Thank God Dan had read about the “beach rapes”, and took over…told me to run. Case #9 August 15, 1991; and as usual, in the early morning. Two young Mexican men and their female companion were confronted by one male with a gun, flashlight, and wearing a ski mask. With his gun on the two men, he handed his flashlight to the woman. His threats were, ‘…do exactly as I say, and no one will be hurt…’. One male victim was hit in the chest, his companion was hit in the abdomen. The attacker, our rapist shot himself in the hand as he struggled with the two wounded victims who continued their fight against him. Our rapist broke free and fled. I’ve used twice the term ‘…our rapist…’, because our suspect rapist turned out to be one of us; he was an off duty cop…from our police department. The flashlight he had handed to the female companion had his name & badge number etched onto it. When the “watch commander” called the Homicide Lieutenant that early morning (all shootings involving in any way a police officer are investigated by the Homicide Division), he said to Lt. Berglund, “Dan…we have a problem.” For the record: Henry Hubbard pled guilty to all counts of kidnappings, rapes, attempt murders, etc., etc. He was sentenced to 56 years. The two men shot during case #9 recovered. For training: Case #3; the rapist used our innate fear for our loved ones to first, control and gain obedience from Barry & Kathy…exactly as he had been doing and successfully would continue to do…with only two exceptions. There are only two steps needed to reverse that too genteel and civilized instinct based on the wishful thinking; ‘give him the control and obedience he demands and he won’t hurt us’? The first step is simply to realize the crooks method of control: a) Shock them with the gun held prominently up and pointed directly at them. b) Instill mortal fear in them with threats of murder (not injury…murder) if they do not obey. a) Give them a way out of their own doomed life, and soon to be murdered loved one. That way out for genteel & too civilized people will seem to be only through obedience. For the record: “a, b, & c, (paraphrased here) first appeared in print in 1967 in a pamphlet titled, “How To Rob People”, published in an underground press by the Black Panther Party. The second step is to plan ahead…just in case, and be willing to lead your loved ones, or the group, if you’re the only one present who has any experience...or willingness to lead. Remember, experience is either actual or vicariously imagined with decisions made…it all counts. Follow
those 2 steps and you wind
up with Not Genteel & Less-Civilized Instincts. This is what I
mean: In
past times, ( What’s happened? How did so many in our society become so genteel & civilized that crooks gain control and total obedience so easily? We’re more gullible and easy victims for a host of reasons: TV convinces us that we can talk our way out of almost anything, and carrying a gun has become only the decision made by “nutty people” who over-react and are likely Republican extremists. So, the crooks know they are unlikely to face an armed citizen. Worse, we have been conditioned by many bleeding-heart psychologists that calmness and cooperation will not further anger this crook. § Believing him…do we really believe that crooks are Promise Keepers? § Trying to talk him out of this crime against us (usually rape)…is it not a bit arrogant to think we will turn this man from hate to love, from violence to compassion in the few seconds we have…when his family, judges, parole officers, prison wardens, counselors, ministers & priests, all have tried unsuccessfully for years to turn him from a life of crime?
§ Waiting for the safe time to react…TV and liberals do this to us; that patience, not overreaction from us will save the day. The facts are: when you’re looking down the barrel of a gun, the safe times are in your past. Period. Barry said to me: ‘…we are stronger now, our relationship and our intellect…never again will any criminal control us…I now understand why people carry guns…”. Of the eighteen people attacked in this rape series, five resisted. Those five escaped.
“What You
Do In Training, You’ll Do Again”
Sergeant Harry Ingold, California
Highway Patrol, (ret.): I started with the highway patrol I’d been there about three years when this incident occurred, the shooting at Jay’s Coffee Shop. It was more of a truck stop than anything else. We occasionally stopped there for dinner, coffee, and things like that. But, it was more of a trucker hang out, and so it wasn’t one of our main spots. It happened about four minutes before We got our briefing and were out on the road. Around 1145my partner and I heard the radio call, ‘…person brandishing a weapon…’. That was the original call. The suspects in the call were supposedly south bound on Interstate 5, and had brandished a weapon further north… up by Gorman. These two guys, Davis and Twining, apparently were planning a kidnapping of some bank presidents and/or their families. So that’s the crime they were working out the bugs on. They were in the canyon area near Gorman testing out their walkie-talkies they were going to use in the kidnapping/bank robbery. One was on foot; one was in a car as they tested the walkie-talkies. When the one in the car, which I believe was Bobby Davis who is now in prison, made a u-turn through the center divider, he cut off a car containing a Navy man and his wife. So the sailor pulled up along side Davis, and he (Mr. Macho showing off to his wife) rolled down his window and said something to The broadcast was something like, “…be alert , southbound Interstate 5, perp just brandished a weapon north of Newhall…(and the descriptions given)…”. The first unit to spot the suspects was Officer’s Gordon and Frago. They had grown up near each other, been boyhood friends, then high school buddies, and were finally partners in a CHP car waiting on a highway for the suspect car to pass by. The second unit, Pence and Allen were waiting further south. Gordon and Frago spotted the car and pulled in behind it. They (Gordon & Frago) notified the radio…the rest of us in other cars nearby then went about our own business with one ear tuned in for any more info from Gordon & Frago. I was further inland with my partner, not on the freeway, but actually in the town of The unit following the suspects (Gordon & Frago) advised, ‘…the suspects are taking the The next transmission, from the parking lot at Jay’s Coffee Shop, were screams on the radio, ‘11-99, 11-99’… our code for officer down, emergency help needed. The voice was probably Officer Gordon, the driver of the first car. He probably was yelling, 11-99 split seconds following his partner, Frago, being shot. And, at that instant, we now know Officer Gordon was then too immediately under fire from both suspects; one shooting from the suspects vehicle passenger door area, and the other shooting from the other side of their car. It could not have been worse for Officer Gordon: to see his partner walk up to the passenger door of the suspects vehicle, take multiple hits, then go down as Gordon drew his own weapon. Gordon was next to come under fire from two separately positioned suspects. He returned fire, managed to get the those first two 11-99’s out to covering units, but is not believed to have been alive for more than another 30 seconds…we believe trying to reload while under fire. The next thing I heard was the covering unit (Pence & Allen) advise, 10-97 (we’ve arrived)! Suddenly, we heard that same voice, “… 11-99, Standard Station, Jay’s, 11-99.” That was Pence and Allen now also under fire. When I heard the second “11-99”, my partner and I we’re about two and a half miles away, and already moving insanely fast. Then, while at full bore and our four-barrel carburetor sucking in air, another CHP car passed me. I was in shock…I couldn’t believe it…where in the hell did he come from. Just a side note, I remember our chase cars in those days; we were in ‘69 Dodges, the fastest patrol car we’ve ever had. Our speedometers went from 0 to 130 and then there was about an inch of black. I had that needle in black…on a two-lane road. I’ll never forget that. We rolled into the scene…still moving too fast. The car in front of me went on up to the scene where the two CHP cars were stopped…all four doors open. We stopped 60-80 feet back covering them. That night was a Sunday night and Jay’s Coffee Shop was full of cars, trucks, buses, people returning from trips… that sort of thing. I remember taking a position at the back of my car…and trying to get a bearing on what the heck do we have here. What still is a picture in my mind is the cloud of gun smoke just hanging over the scene. Over 100 rounds were fired in that gunfight…of under 5 minutes. People over towards Jays were all pointing to the area the bad guys were in. So, I started working my way over to where everybody’s pointing…now picture this in your mind: I don’t know what or who I’m look for, race, sex, how many, we knew nothing at that point except we could see officers down, not moving, countless citizens…not all pointing in the same direction, some running, some appearing to have feinted, others also on the ground sobbing, and the area smelled clearly of gun smoke. While working my way around the big trucks, I remember this truck driver bailing out of his truck. He was scared and scared me worse. I wheeled on him. He’s lucky he didn’t get shot that night. We now know that Twining and I went back to where the bodies were, going first to Officer Allen. He was lying on his back, and shaking. He had been hit in the face with a shotgun from fairly close range. The only reason I knew at that time it was Allen was his name tag…his face was practically gone The other three officers were motionless. I talked to the coroner later and he said that he (Allen) was all but dead even though his body was still shaking. I went back to my car, got some crayons and began marking our officers bodies. Four Officers, all men we knew well, worked with night after night, and after shift, shared some beer with…now dead in a gunfight lasting less than five minutes. When the suspects split up, Twining went west then he cut to the south paralleling the freeway. He burst into a hilltop home and took a family hostage. One of the family members somehow got a phone call down to our headquarters office. In minutes CHP & Sheriff’s Deputies surrounded the house in what wound up being an all night standoff. In the morning (first light) Twining released everybody. Then he held one of our shotguns to his head (the shotgun he had taken from one of our dead officers) and ended the standoff. When I saw him, his face looked like Officer Allens’, but worse. A side issue took place during the gunfight just before my partner and I, and the car in front of us arrived at the scene. A U.S. Marine, Gary Kaness, was apparently on his way to work (a second job) at a location just down the road from Jay’s. As he rounded the corner, he actually saw the traffic stop being initiated. For whatever reason, he pulled over to the right side of the road, and he then witnessed the shoot out go down that killed Officers Gordon & Frago. He also witnessed Officers Pence & Allen roll in to cover the first car and they too come under fire and take the hits that killed them as well. This Marine, Gary Kaness, left his car, and ran to one of the downed officers. It happened to be Allen. The Marine was not armed…except with the courage we expect from a US Marine. He grabbed Allen and began to pull him back for protection behind the car. He (the Marine) saw This is what had taking place: Twining had been in his own shootout with Officer Pence. That gunfight essentially going down on the drivers side of the patrol car. Pence had been hit several times in the stomach and legs. With Pence down but alive, Twining executed him point-blank to the head. While this gunfight between Twining versus Pence was in progress, Gary Kaness was at the rear of the passenger side of the same patrol car trying to save Officer Allen while also in a gunfight against the second crook, Next for the Marine, Gary Kaness, was this very stark realization: he heard the sirens from covering CHP cars (of which I was one), and he wisely understood and related to us later; ‘…I realized suddenly another danger; I was in civilian clothes, gun in hand, dead officers all around me…the officers coming in are not gonna ask many questions first.’ Kaness dropped the officers’ gun, and dove into a shallow roadway ditch. After we were stopped at the scene, he made himself known. U.S. Marine, Gary Kaness, was the one man who stepped forward and risked his life for our downed officers. For me, that was the end of that night. But, it sure wasn’t the end of the investigation and the changes that resulted in the training procedures for the CHP. Authors note: That night, we in The Changed Training; for not only California’s Highway Patrol, but all of California law enforcement; four uniformed officers, each armed with .357 magnums, and two shotguns between them…all dead in under five minutes will and should bring about major reviews of training. First, a reminder for readers: the two crooks faced not four officers at once, but two at a time…as each two-man car arrived at the scene. The training that changed most dramatically were in three areas: 1)
“Lock
& Load with six rounds”
(in the 1970’s, law enforcement nationwide carried .38 revolvers).
Training was
“rote” in style, and never deviated. At
the range, training always involved firing 6 rounds, then unloaded the
6, and
retain them either in our pockets, or more often, the container on the
shelf at
a shooting station. Retention of spent-rounds was an economic issue
involving
reloading of those rounds. And, then we reloaded with 6 more rounds.
Officers
practiced that form of marksmanship with unloading and reloading
thousands of
times. It was the same training that officers had learned from in the
‘30’s,
‘40’s, and ‘50’s. 2)
A
paper seal was wrapped around the
fully loaded shotgun’s breach. That action took place after line up and
before
leaving for the assigned beats. The shotgun was in that manner (seal
around the
breach) placed into the metal receiving rack in the front seat. The
reason for
the paper seal wrap was, supervision of the officers use of the
shotgun: to
load a round into the chamber required the slide to be drawn back, then
forward. So, “racking a round into the chamber”, thereby readying the
shotgun
for use broke the seal. Breaking the paper seal required a short report
from
the officer. Officers were not quick to break the seal and thereby
increase
their paperwork. 3)
Mindset…in
a nutshell, what a
person does in training is exactly what he’ll do at the real scene.
That
statement may sound so redundant, so antiquated now…but, in those
years,
firearms trainers had yet a lot to learn about that most critical
element of
readying law enforcement officers to face off and against killers. Now, back to Sgt. Ingold, his observations and conclusions about the training changes brought on following “The Newhall Shootings”. I remember when the ambulance picked up the officers, (they were all dead, but an ambulance was used anyway); most I remember Officer Pence. As they picked up his body: he was face down in a pool of his blood, lying on his hat. Also, under him was his revolver…lying there with the cylinder opened and fully loaded. And, I remember looking at Pence’s car and his drivers door. Pence was face down back at the left rear wheel of his car. His driver’s door was open; the radio-mike was hanging over the back of the seat. It looked like he had used the “mike” and just dropped it over the seat. And, right there on the ground were six empty casings that he had ejected on to the ground. I know there are stories about him putting the ammunition in his pocket. Well, I was there, and I saw six casings on the ground. The only persons that could have said he (Pence) had casings in his pocket were those at the coroner’s office, the people that got possession of his clothes. It’s possible he loaded twice. I can’t say he didn’t. We carried at that time 18 rounds. Six in each pouch plus six in the gun. And, it’s true, we believe that Pence got off 12 rounds, and we know he had reloaded with 6 more. Pence and his partner, Allen was the second car to arrive. They drove up and past the first CHP car which tells me that as they entered the parking lot, they didn’t know that the first two officers, Gordon and Frago, had been involved in a shooting. They did know the first officers had initiated an 11-99 emergency call for help, but Pence and Allen did not have all the facts yet. In hindsight fact, the first two officers were dead by the time Pence and Allen rolled in. Anyway, Pence and Allen took hits into their car immediately while still in their car…Allen’s passenger door window was blown out as Pence stopped the car. Allen retreated to the back of their car and began returning fire. Pence took a position behind his door and skipped his first five or six rounds off the hood of his own car. Pence then, before or after he reloaded, also retreated to the rear of their car. But, Pence only got as far as the left rear tire. Unfortunately, Twining (one of the crooks) had moved to the left of the patrol car Allen and Pence were trying to use for cover. And, from his new position, Twining could fire past the open door to hit Pence. Pence took hits in the legs and stomach. That was when he (Pence) dropped face down onto his loaded revolver. But, the biggest thing that everybody hangs their hat on, the big training change that was made involved the paper seals on our shotguns. Our practice (from training and regulations) was; we’d fully load the shotgun before leaving the station for our beats. Then put a paper seal around the slide. With that seal in place, if the gun was ever used a minor report was required. So, our training changed. We adopted speed-loaders and got rid of the “suicide pouches”…that’s what we called them. They were the old leather pouches, each holding 6 rounds that an officer opened from the bottom. That bottom opening allowed the rounds to fall into your hand and be ready for reloading. The trouble was, officers under extreme stress tended to fumble and drop some or all of the rounds. At the practice range in those days, we either placed the empty casings in our pockets or, more often, dumped the empty casings into our left hand, and then placed the casings together onto the shooting bench in front of us or into a box provided to us. The empty casings were cared for in that manner because they were reloaded. It wasn’t long after the training reviews were completed that all the frivolous stuff, like saving spent rounds and paper seals on shotguns were stopped. Because, none of it had anything to do with effectively using our revolvers. I remember being told later in training, ‘…don’t touch those rounds…what you do in training, you will do in actual combat…’. And, that’s a fact.
That could be
exactly what Pence did that night: he could have dumped his first six
spent
casings into his hand, then placed them on the ground because they, the
empty
casings were all next to each other on the pavement. Pence was, we
believe, the
last one alive. He was under fire, hit already 2-3 times in the legs
and
stomach…that’s a lot of stress. And, it’s at those times, that officers
who
have lived through shootings all say, “…you fall back on
training…totally!’
Another training change involved how many rounds to reload: we were
told in our
“post-Newhall” training, “…load a couple…that may be better than trying
to get
all six in before you’re back in the gunfight…’. We practiced that too.
Authors note: our squads’ line up the following night in
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