The only ones professional enough. Only this time with casualties.

[Apple a Day]

A terrible thing. The people posting jibes at the French should remember that there are 15 people wounded for no reason. That ain't so funny.
I'm wondering if they didn't have some sort of mockup set of rooms that the soldiers weren't 'clearing' and then they fired the live ammo it went through the drywall to hit the people on the other side. With the noise and blocked vision, the guys trying to go through the simulation at top speed I could see how it might go happen so quickly that by the time they realized it the whole thing was over. The guys dash into a room and fire a couple of burst in rapid succession... then it's all over but the screaming.
Darn shame. I hope the wounded make it.

 

[Shung]

most probably, a live ammo magazine ended being packed with blanks loaded one. (still have to understand how)

The soldier 1st fired a whole blank magazine, before making a fast tactical reload, and than shootin a burst..

 

[everallm]

Fragmented rounds
Ricochets
Debris from a kaboomed BFA

One way to end up with 16 injuries no fatalities.

One way to get a mag of live mixed in would be if they were issued pre loaded magazines from the armoury from the exercise at the same time another unit might be drawing for range work.

I have seen this sort of pre-loaded practice with the Bundeswehr once or twice years ago when it was still West Germany.

 

[XDKingslayer]

Maybe if they used their combat arms more often they'd have a better knowledge of their use and their ammo.

If this was a white flag demonstration it would have been done perfectly...

 

[Deanimator]

The French are demonstrating the latest techniques in Hostage Release negotiations and Criminal Capture.

1) Shoot the Hostage first.

2) When the hostage drops to the ground, Shoot the Criminal that was holding the hostage.

I saw Kurt Russell do that in a sci-fi movie last week...

 

[Deanimator]

A terrible thing. The people posting jibes at the French should remember that there are 15 people wounded for no reason. That ain't so funny.

That's one possibility that I considered. The other is that it was just a whackjob.

I was in Korea when a guy started shooting at other people on the rifle range at Camp Edwards. Later on, I gave a Soviet/Chinese weapons class to that unit and talked to the Lt. who was the OIC of the range. He said that his platoon sergeant walked in front of him just as the gunman was shooting at him. It turned out later that people were shot who weren't in the murderer's line of fire. CID mapped out the fields of fire and positions of the victims and determined that there was a second shooter. Apparently another soldier saw the initial shooter start killing people and decided that it was his opportunity to even a few scores of his own.

 

[Fly320s]

As Atblis said, this article has more info.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7480483.stm

A military show in south-eastern France has left 17 people wounded, after real bullets were used instead of blanks.

The injured included five children. Four people, including one child, were said to have been seriously hurt - though three have now stabilised.

The incident occurred during a public demonstration of hostage-freeing techniques at a barracks in Aude.

The soldier who fired the shots has been detained - though an official said it was probably an accident.

It is not clear why the wrong ammunition was used in Sunday's demonstration.

But it was "99.9%" likely to be "an unintentional fault," Colonel Benoit Royal, head of the French army's information service, told the AFP news agency on Monday.

'No psychological problems'

However, Defence Minister Herve Morin said: "I cannot rule out anything because we don't know what might be going on in a man's head."

He said "an experienced soldier" should not be able to confuse blanks with real bullets.

"According to initial findings of the inquiry, the incident involved a soldier with a perfect record, who had participated in operations and had seven to eight years of experience," he said.

"There is nothing that would make one think he had behavioural or psychological problems," he added.

Reports from the scene say the hostage scenario had been acted out five times before a crowd at the Laperrine military barracks, near Carcassonne, when on the sixth take real bullets began flying through the air, and onlookers fell to the ground.

Fifteen civilians were among the 17 injured.

Gilles Hulard, a doctor from Carcassonne's rescue service said: "The condition of patients injured the most seriously have stabilised, including that of a three-year-old child very seriously injured, who seems to be improving."

He said the worst injuries were sustained by a man shot in the chest, who was still in critical condition."

In a statement, French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his horror at the incident and said he was urgently waiting for the results of an official investigation.

The president was planning to visit the injured in hospitals in Carcassonne and Toulouse later, his office said.

 

[ilbob]

the scariest part of this is that a supposed professional not only aimed his firearm in the direction of people he did not intend to shoot, but actually pulled the trigger, blanks or not.

 

[yesit'sloaded]

I don't know what to think. Simunitions require a completely different upper that won't even chamber live rounds if I remember. A KB BFA wouldn't injure 16 different people. Maybe a burst involving a Kaboomed BFA as well as a string of live rounds.

 

[stevemis]

I'm surprised there hasn't been a Three Amigos reference yet.

"Oh great! Real bullets!"

 

[dhoomonyou]

duh.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Very very sad.

 

[roo_ster]

It is very possible that it was both intentional and that the firer is perfectly sane.

Like the Colin Ferguson train shooting a few years back, some very pertinent information may be deliberately left out of the articles.

=========

IME, my M16 & M4 recoiled, felt, and sounded completely different when using blanks vs when using live rounds, even discounting the presence of the BFA.

It would not take me more than a round or two to think, "WTH?" and stop firing until I sorted it out.

 

[buzz_knox]

Maybe if they used their combat arms more often they'd have a better knowledge of their use and their ammo.

If this was a white flag demonstration it would have been done perfectly...

Don't associate the failures of French politicians (in or out of uniform) with the French military. The French military has a history of professionalism, innovation and capability that should be respected, not insulted.

 

[NG VI]

How do you mistake real cartridges for blanks? Oh, right, you have to have no idea what you're doing.

Yeah, that soldier must have slept during all his range time

 

[Hawk]

I don't know what to think. Simunitions require a completely different upper that won't even chamber live rounds if I remember. A KB BFA wouldn't injure 16 different people. Maybe a burst involving a Kaboomed BFA as well as a string of live rounds.

I don't generally engage in wild speculation online, but that whole thing along with the reference here to simunitions reminded me of this.

http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2...g-at-the-2008-shot-show-goes-to…-simunitions/

Evidently, it may well have gotten a lot easier to get confused over paint v the real thing.

 

[SMLE]

Any more info on this?