Volunteer accidentally shot and killed........

[CathyA]

I'm not trying to start any kind of obnoxious discussion. Just curious how this might have happened.
In case you haven't heard it, the police in one Florida community were offering a small course on dealing with your interactions with potentially violent people.
This 73 year old lady joined because she wanted to support her local police. I guess she was very active in the community and loved by all.
She volunteered to play the victim, with a policeman playing the bad guy. Well, the gun was supposed to have blanks/and or empty, and it unfortunately had real bullets in it.
He shot her 3 times.
I'm just trying to understand why there were any real bullets in the gun? How could this have been a mistake?
Maybe I'm misunderstanding the news conference, but it sounds like they've used real bullets in the past for these make-believe/learning situations. Wasn't this just a tragedy waiting to happen?
I'm just trying to understand how a police person could have let this happen.
Any ideas? Yes, it was "just" a horrible accident.........but wow..........seems like there should have been some safeguards.

[ToomuchStuff]

Inattention to detail!

Years ago, a rehearsal dinner was supposed to happen locally, as the brides parents lived here. A couple of weeks before it was to happen, the groom was killed with blanks. They can kill by concussive force, it made national news, and the movie was still released. Blanks are still bullets, just without the projectile.
Were there other officers? Do they all have the same gun? Was the wrong one picked up? There are lots of things that had to happen, that will all be questioned in the investigation, but it all comes down to above.
I haven't seen the story to know if she was killed with projectiles, or just from the force (gun going off close to an elderly person).

[Teacher Terry]

They thought the gun had blanks in it as it had been used before in training. No one had a clue it had real bullets in it. they said in the future they would not use a real gun at all. REally sad situation.

[bae]

They thought the gun had blanks in it as it had been used before in training. No one had a clue it had real bullets in it. they said in the future they would not use a real gun at all. REally sad situation.

This happened because the people running the class were morons.

When we teach such things, generally we clear the range of all actual firearms and other real weapons, and triple check that fact. And then we use training firearms, which are made of plastic, colored red or blue, contain no moving parts, and cannot be loaded.

We do not use "blanks", as a blank at close range, as you might have in such a class, will injure or possibly kill.

Now, I said "generally" above, because there is a type of training that uses something called "simunitions", which shoot a real projectile, and are intended for shooting *at* people without killing them. Their use requires special protective gear, training, and safety protocols.

[Teacher Terry]

Bae, you are so right. I don't understand how they could be so careless.

[Alan]

Now, I said "generally" above, because there is a type of training that uses something called "simunitions", which shoot a real projectile, and are intended for shooting *at* people without killing them. Their use requires special protective gear, training, and safety protocols.

I've used those .38 caliber Force on Force rounds in live fire houses before. In training situations, that's as real as it gets.

[bae]

I've used those .38 caliber Force on Force rounds in live fire houses before. In training situations, that's as real as it gets.

The little devils sting.

[Alan]

The little devils sting.
That's an understatement. I once took two to the sternum from about 12 feet and thought it may have cracked, and the colorful bruise took weeks to disappear. In that scenario I was taken out, but in the real world I got the better of him by breaking the knuckle of his trigger finger. We both should have had better PPE.

[bae]

Training barrel, training gun:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/e165RjTbo-HovmEVD2ulEh2KGHfJve6QBJcN4nw_zT9bL5f-2HTbOwnAEozUvNdXSmX-XZzBe-Zw80WgXvlG0lRqybaeK0sUKCKXMlVwMIs0wWn3ZXhg4dCYhaHA n4oOBQNYGf53RcdFyLO7dT2jya2Qm1nlFtVhJR6-I0cap2YMYxQ6x4sa70lHlIf6vn90Ve88dKZ3tJWJX5XEzpwznN 1I98Nq32ctRSBkiyPZgN6wxNT3pINngp6sbJpwkMazxSyj-6kb1O0fkl4Cl2RCZ83jov6H1MSNII7whQWbfFG07a6bzjgVeaW rTWSIpgEpnwp_AeDurUUxrdIxbpWpbrdo8GPX2AYi1OSnM6_fI cGY7R-QJdFGNvkhDvlb-QyJlhABEyRax6Jw6RXx5u6Z1TB45z-PZVrVAC_Z1lkmh_qejxh7XePft54yj031-BCcbsNyilPlKKAgfX2Rjfu5vlgTfYpyBVig4FEgWEq8MWL9mpZ Kx2UqEPnobs3mABPaDHaLarkS-bqzE-hEJ79G3qxFPgSUdTzO6g11Uci1gY8AYbeWbhYoMB3Jl8C2lVoi c-gD4XW7qRCSkukdS8YzgLz6rUWSq0-I=w675-h900-no?.jpg

[CathyA]

I was thinking the same thing, in terms of checking and rechecking. Heck.......I check and recheck my ingredients when I'm cooking! I find it unimaginable that this got by them. I also wondered if there were some foul play involved?? .......but only because it seems too insane that this even happened.

[bae]

I was thinking the same thing, in terms of checking and rechecking. Heck.......I check and recheck my ingredients when I'm cooking! I find it unimaginable that this got by them. I also wondered if there were some foul play involved?? .......but only because it seems too insane that this even happened.

One of the forums I participate in is about training. This incident is being discussed there. The leading bets, based on slightly more information than what the newspaper articles are presenting, is that the people running the event were complacent, sloppy, had poor habits, and were inept on several levels. So, no foul play needed, though that's of course a possibility, and one of the reasons we don't like to have *any* real weapons within reach during this type of training - it would be easy enough for either an idiot or a bad person to slip a real round of ammunition in and cause a real tragedy.

I am aware of an incident last year where a well-respected trainer drew and fired his actual weapon instead of the blue gun while demonstrating a point, luckily nobody was injured. But he violated the "no real weapons here" because he "thought he was professional enough"...

And of course, there's the classic "professional" DEA agent lecturing:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7ufT_6Kgy0

[CathyA]

Oh Geez. I'm glad it was him and nobody else that got shot. Hmmm.........I wonder if he still has his job?

[ToomuchStuff]

This happened because the people running the class were morons.


Not just the ones running the class. The shooter himself, is responsible for a weapon he is in possession of and should have checked the clip (and the rounds should be clearly different from a regular round, not trying to do some hollywood, look like a real thing).

[peggy]

My husband was almost mauled by a military dog in a training exercise because someone failed to inform the dog handler that my husband wasn't , in fact, a terrorist hiding in an office building. (without the proper padding I might add...'Hey, you won't need it...'):0!

[Teacher Terry]

Lesson learned from these stories is do not volunteer when people have guns, attack dogs, etc at their disposable. Assume they are all morons:))