[Bilge_Rat]

Here is a video of the shootout:




As you can see, the officers had to make a split second decision after the suspect pulled his gun out and aimed it at them. The whole confrontation was over in 6 seconds.


you have to remember the NYPD is armed with semi-automatic pistols and trained to keep firing until the suspect is down. Even if some bullets miss, the theory is that enough will hit to neutralize the suspect.


In a situation like this, a police officer has to decide in a split second whether to shoot or not; he is unfamiliar with the location; there may be wind, dust or poor visibility; he may not be in the optimum firing position and/or moving (as here); the target may be moving and/or worse aiming a gun at them (again as here).

You also have to remember that a pistol is inherently difficult to aim. With a rifle, you can stabilize the weapon with both hands and shoulder and you have that long barrel as an aiming point. A pistol is only held in one hand and even with a two handed grip, it is easy to be slightly off and miss completely. With a semi-auto pistol, you also have to contend with the cumulative recoil of all these rounds being fired in quick succession, each one of which will throw off your aim slightly. Only getting 1/2 of the bullets in the target in these situations is not abnormal.

Did the officers react appropriately? As you can see in the video, 6 seconds elapsed from the time the suspect points his gun to the time he is down. However, as we all know lawyers will be second guessing what happened in those 6 seconds for years.