Almost got shot/shot someone...

[Hacklemerc]

So as some of you know I am a Police Officer. The other night I came the closest I have ever come to being shot and shooting someone. Heres how it went down...

I was dispatched to an attempted burglary. Once there I spoke to the victim, a 24 year old woman who's husband was deployed to Iraq, and recently her neighborhood has seen an upturn in gang related offenses and drug traffic. She stated that she had heard some noise in her backyard and looked out a window and discovered the gate in her fence had been forced open and there was now a person standing in her backyard. she turned the lights on and scared him off. She was understandably upset and scared. I did my best to soothe her and told her I would resecure her gate and make sure no one was lurking around in her backyard.

So I go out to her backyard and look around. I made sure her vehicles were still secure and no one had tampered with her shed. Once that was done I went over to her chain link fence and attempted to fix the gate. I straightened out the gate and was attempting to relock it when I heard a screen door on the house next door open. (this is when it gets scary). I start to turn to see who is coming out when I hear the familiar sound of a pistol racking a round into the chamber. I quickly draw my service weapon and wheel on my "aggressor". As I turn I yell "Police! Drop the weapon!", once squared up with the guy who just came out of the door I am looking down the barrel of his pistol and he is looking down the barrel of mine. I had my finger on the trigger and was starting to squeeze when he threw his pistol to the ground and put his hands in the air. We were about 8 feet apart at this point. I ordered him to the ground and he willingly went. I secured the weapon, a .45 cal pistol and then checked him out.

Turns out he had heard the noise from the earlier attempt and then had seen me walking around the backyard with my flashlight. He could not tell I was a Police Officer because it was dark. He then saw me beating on the fence to straighten it and decided it was time to step up to the vigilante plate. If he did not have to rack a round in the chamber when he came out he would have had the drop on me and possibly shot me. scary stuff.

The only reason I didn't hook him for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and aggravated assault on a Police Officer was because he was at least trying to do the right thing. I delivered a slightly less than polite lesson on staying in his house and calling the police if things like that happen again. He was nothing but apologetic and sorry for his actions. I told him I appreciated his zeal but he should have been more careful.

I have never come so close to shooting someone or being shot as a police officer before. The scary thing was that at the distance we were apart my vest would probably not have stopped his bullet. I would have been justified in shooting him, thank god I didn't though.

I just wanted to put this out there. Fellow LEO's on the board know how it feels.

Hackle

[sanco]

wow amazing man...god to hear everything turned out allright! glad you are safe and nobody got hurt, nice job and a great show of restraint on your part. i really dont know if i would have been able to do the same thing if i was in your shoes!

[jgc61sr2002]

Hackle - Glad your OK.
Been there done that.

[Taemian]

Hack, I'm very thankful that nobody was shot, most of all you.

I'm confident your vest would've done it's job, Lvl III can handle .45s....but I'm glad you don't know that from any firsthand experience.

How long til the adren dump wore off any your legs gave out? It was about 20 minutes for me.

[Hacklemerc]

It was right about 20 to 30 minutes before my heart quit beating a thousand miles an hour. I talked with a bunch of the guys and they were pretty much all in agreeance. THey probably would have shot the guy. I almost did but I saw the look on his face and his immediate need to get rid of the gun. I am glad I hesitated in this one instant. I went home that morning and drank a nice cold "beverage."

[Windsor58]

Glad it turned out ok for you. Sorry you had to have to go through that. That guy wasn't very bright and owes you his life in my opinion. Maybe next time he'll think a bit more about what he is about to do.
Hope you never have to get that close again.
Thank you for your service. Putting yourself out there at risk every day for all of us civilians makes all LEOs courageous heros in my book. I know some folks will disagree with me on this, but everyone is entitled to their opinion and that is mine.

[Local Boy]

WOW!!!

Wicked story, Brutha...

Please be safe, the world needs more people like yourself...

Thanks for your service,,,

ALOHA

[rayjay]

Glad to hear it worked out and no one got hurt. The days of going through an entire career and never having to unholster are over.

[03mara300b]

Learned in my concealed firearm class always let the fight come to you. He should not have gone to investigate you in the yard. He was armed and safe inside the house. Bet he will not do that again.

[oldekid]

Good for you. You are safe, and so is he. I can only imagine what you went through after the fact. You could have killed the good guy, or the bad guy could have killed you. Everything worked out, but I'm sure you will think about this one for a long time.

I admire you guys for doing what you do every day, and I'm just happy for you that this one ended in a good way. I'm sure if you had pulled the trigger, we would hear about an over zealous cop killing an innocent man, and you would look like the bad guy. I think that could have easily been the case.

Glad you are still here to post your story. You obviously took the correct action this time. You have my respect, and thanks for your service.

:beer:

[JamesHecker]

What I am most impressed with (other than the fact that no one was shot, thank God) is your attitude about the guy after the fact. Most LEO, if they hadn't have shot him, would have given him a pretty stern physical lesson as well as a haul down town. You are to be commended for your presence of mind and empathetic treatment of the guy. Prayers for your continued safety and that this guy doesn't do something stupid like that again!

God Bless

[jfclancy]

WOW IMHO you were both lucky,
After both left and right side nieghbors cars were broken/ vandalized I keep a round chambered.But with six foot fences I can not see into the backyard. He should not have gone outside but he could have shot first, he would have been in the wrong but if he went for a head shot.... Outstanding restraint on your part and excellant complaince once you indentified yourself on his. i am guessing that was an adult cold beverage.

Done good

Joe Clancy:beer::beer:

[Colonel]

Psalm 91:11, brother!

For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways

[captain]

Clean up the neighborhood and the citizens will feel safe in their yards. Citizens are armed for a reason. When the police/courts do what we ask of them, do what we hire, and train them to do... Problem solved, no more close calls with innocent people making feeble attempts at doing it for you. My opinion. Hate away........

[2ndMDRebel]

Clean up the neighborhood and the citizens will feel safe in their yards. Citizens are armed for a reason. When the police/courts do what we ask of them, do what we hire, and train them to do... Problem solved, no more close calls with innocent people making feeble attempts at doing it for you. My opinion. Hate away........

No hate at all... the police here in Baltimore work their tails off getting the bad guys off the streets and when the trials go to court these neighbors that are screaming about the crime rates are the ones not producing guilty verdicts because they are told by their cultural leaders to distrust the police and any government department that is not handing them a paycheck. Its so difficult to get a conviction in the city that they are considering expanding the jury pool to neighboring counties where conviction rates are much higher.

I keep firearms for personal home defense because "when seconds count the police are just minutes away" but would not think about taking one outside to confront someone... unless maybe that someone was chasing a neighbor in my yard with an axe or something... and even then they would have to be a good neighbor... and I would have to be wearing more than my underwear.

Good job Hackle, glad the situation turned out as it did. Thank you.

[Hacklemerc]

Clean up the neighborhood and the citizens will feel safe in their yards. Citizens are armed for a reason. When the police/courts do what we ask of them, do what we hire, and train them to do... Problem solved, no more close calls with innocent people making feeble attempts at doing it for you. My opinion. Hate away........


No hate here. WE have been working hard to get the neighborhood back the way it was. Lots of extra patrol and being more visable. We have actually stopped alot of the dirtbags from causing more problems. And to be truthfull the problems have dropped off some now that school has started back up. Juveniles are a pain in the butt.

Like 2ndMDRebel said. Our cour system here in St. Clair county sucks. Gtting the States Attorney to charge anything is like pulling teeth. THere is a reason our prosecutors have a high conviction rate... they never go to trial and they only charge what they know they can win. Its a tad bit frustrating. We keep locking them up and the courts just keep letting them out. Our County jail has a NO VACANCY sign on the front.


And oh yes it was a very large very cold adult beverage.

[LilCop2002]

Hackle,

Your angel was clearly on your shoulder during that situation. It's good to see that your training and cool head prevailed. :high5:

I know how you feel about the adrenaline dump that the situation forces into your system. It's a very comforting yet disturbing experience. You know that you're able to do the job and get home safely, but it's more scary than most people will ever know. I know the time is coming eventually but I dread the day I have to go back overseas...

I've only had to draw down on one person and that was on a Private Security gig at a "thug club." We shut it down early because 5 people were inside fighting, were thrown out, and someone went to his car after mentioning "Chopping this place up" (thug talk for automatic fire). He came back with something in his hand under his shirt after digging in the glove box, under seat, and finally in the trunk.

I challenged him and I was taking the slack out of my trigger as my adrenaline dump and tunnel vision started to kick in. I guess he realized that he was staring down the barrel of my partner's 9MM Beretta and my .40cal Glock, my finger was in the trigger guard, and that his life was coming close to an end. You could almost see the hardcore attitude and his color drain from his body as he quickly showed me his hands and went down to his knees with arms out to the side and fingers spread.

He told me and I quote, "I just wanted to get my M****g chicken wings." This guy damn near got shot because of 10 chicken wings for $7.

I ended up staying up for a few more hours after leaving there and getting home debating on whether or not the private security gigs was worth the hassle and extra cash. It wasn't...

[offroadking208]

Theres also the possibliity that he racked the slide of the pistol to scare you off. While it is a bit unorthodox i know that my dad has done things like that (he's a LEO here in Noblesville, and a supervisor so he gets an M-14 instead of M-4) but there was once when there was an "intruder" in our backyard trying to get into our shed, and rather than my dad getting his glock he got the M-14 and used the sound of a round being racked into the chamber (Very VERY distinctive) and that guy turned more pale that anyone he'd ever seen before and he passed out! hahaha, while a bit unusual i guess sometimes just the sound of a weapon being charged is as effective or moreso than yelling at someone. But obviously he had already called the dept and there were officers on the way, he only did that because my mom and i were outta town at the time. Still pretty funny tho