Shooting at armed man 184yds away... justified?

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Bob R

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It is in Idaho.

POST FALLS, Idaho - A prosecutor has ruled that a police shooting in northern Idaho late last month was justified. The Kootenai County Prosecutor said Thursday day that the unidentified officer acted appropriately when the officer fired up to eight rounds from a .223-caliber rifle.

Police fired at and arrested 32-year-old Christopher J. Kimsey after he fired a .410-guage shotgun at officers from a parked pickup before the during a confrontation near Pole Line and SR 41 the morning of Friday January 18.
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The rest of the story:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23191763/


At least getting shot in the chest made the bad guy stop what he was doing.

bob
 
was he just curious if they would shoot him? stupid, I guess he found out. never fire at a cop, granted his .410 would do no damage, but the cop probaply couldn't tell what kind of gun he had. and who trains them to shoot?
 
If someone's shooting at me, I'd probably fire back, no matter how far he was. Also, that guy was a moron to think he could hit the cops at 182 yards with a freaking .410.
 
So tell me, are any of you are finding fault with this officer's shooting skills? I am not sure, but it sort of looks that way. Well, if that is the case, tell me this: Do you always hit that at which you shoot - with only one shot - or even with less than 8 -at that distance when the target is likely moving, and quite possibly using cover or concealment, and has a gun, that has already been fired at you, and the pucker factor has taken over. I have to wonder if I would have hit him.

All the best,
Glenn B
 
dont misunderstand me, I completely understand the shot/hit ratio here. the officer was under at least some duress, and we dont know what the conditions were. not to mention it sounds like this BG was inside a vehicle.

I'm impressed the phone stopped the .223 round.
 
FYI folks, human targets run, move, take cover, etc. An off hand shot at 184 yards under stress on a moving hostile target is hard for me, guess it's easy for everyone else though.
 
If I remember correctly, this was in the early morning hours, which also means dark. Unless the bad guy parked under a streetlight, which was unlikely, illumination would have been poor at best.

I think the guy did a good job, stopped the threat and the bad guy is now sitting in jail.

bob
 
Isn't this the story where the 223 rounds had to go through the windshield and dashboard before getting to the target? It seemed like many implied the cell phone alone stopped the round and conveniently forget to mention everything else the bullets had to penetrate first.
 
its a two way range somebody shoots at your your going to shoot back with whatever you have to hand.
and continue until they stop or run away :D
I'm happy with either result
 
I say bravo to the LEO. and to bad for the bad guy. My opinion,if he/LEO was to take out the bad guy. It would have saved us taxpayers alot of money in the long run. well, thats just my opinion :)

ISR
 
To answer the OP question....


Justified to shoot at armed man 184 yards away?

Yes. This is further supported by the fact that the man had already taken shots at the officers. No one should expect an officer to identify the caliber of a firearm (yes... .410 is a caliber, not a gauge) from that distance. That small barrel could as easily been a rifle as it could have been a small-bore shotgun.

The only comment beyond that I'll make is that the question is wrong....

You asked "Shooting AT armed man 184yrds away... justified?"

You can ommit the "at" and it is better.


-- John
 
Shooting at armed man 184yds away... justified?
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What does distance have to do with this? Are you suggesting that because it was 184 yards that distance would make it not justified?

I guess he found out. never fire at a cop, granted his .410 would do no damage, but the cop probaply couldn't tell what kind of gun he had. and who trains them to shoot?
Click to expand...

Believing that a .410 would do no damage at that range could be a very naive and bad mistake. You don't think a 90 gr slug leaving the barrel at 1800 fps .410 slugs can be dangerous at that range? And sure, the officers probably could not tell what gun the guy had at that range, but they did know he was attempting to use lethal force against them.

The bad guy had intent, opportunity, and ability to do harm to the cops. So yeah, the shoot was justified.
 
This was discussed earlier in the Rifle forum. The suspect was in a vehicle and officers had to shoot through the front laminated windshield. This is actually what broke up most of the bullet causing it to stop in the cellphone.

Many are not aware that windshield glass is very hard on bullets (all kinds) and often deflects the shots as well. For example, 55gr Federal AE223 penetrates about 3" of bare ballistics gel after passing through laminated glass.

I have to agree with the intent, opportunity and ability comment. He met all three and clearly this was a justified shoot.
 
+1

FYI folks, human targets run, move, take cover, etc. An off hand shot at 184 yards under stress on a moving hostile target is hard for me, guess it's easy for everyone else though.
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I don't know the conditions either, but that's a long shot for a fight...
 
From the descriptions available in the previous stories, I gathered the impression that the guy was inside his vehicle...anyone know?
 
Hitting a man behind cover at 180 yards with 1 of 8 shots with iron sighs while under fire seems respectable to me.
 
I don't think distance is a fair way of necessarily eliminating the possibility a shot was justified, but it's hard to know from the facts given just what the cops knew.

I'd worry that there would be someone else in the truck who didn't deserve to get hit (hostage situation? baby in backseat?).

This is not to belittle the danger of being shot at from 184 yards, with any gun at all; I know I am no crack shot, even at 100 yards, with my .223, but even my .22 comes with serious warnings about the long-range dangers.

timothy
 
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