From my understanding the perp was shot while standing near the drivers side door of his vehicle. The vehicle would have acted as a backstop if the officer missed.

Your question presumes that there were people in the background. I have seen no report of such. Every time you fire when things are real there is the chance- in fact likihood, that you may miss or have a pass through. Risk of action versus inaction is all that it comes down to. In this case it sounds like the gunman needed to be stopped immediately and the officer thought the risk sufficiently safe or sufficiently extreme that he pulled the trigger. He thinks God guided his bullet and I don't doubt it.

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Am I angry that he took the shot? Absolutely.

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I heard of a town in Missouri that you should visit. You would fit in well there; bring your cigarette lighter.

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Get off your high horse. I support LEOs just as much as the next guy, but an irresponsible shot is an irresponsible shot in my opinion. Again I ask, what would your response be if his shot missed and hit a civilian? Is it still a responsible shot that he just didn't execute well?

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What evidence/info suggests it was an irresponsible shot?

To add more fuel to the fire the perp was reportedly wearing a vest.

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To add more fuel to the fire the perp was reportedly wearing a vest.

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Bad advertisment for the vest manufacturer.

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100 yard shooting with a handgun is not difficult.

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What we have here folks is 400lbs of mallcop badassedness.

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Hey, with a little instruction and some proper fundamentals, even a duffer like you can do it. It's not that hard. I'm not much of a shot.

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To add more fuel to the fire the perp was reportedly wearing a vest.

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Bad advertisment for the vest manufacturer.

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It was Austin, it very could have been this:

They originally thought it was an IED vest. They closed down 35 in both directions.

May have just been a tactical vest, not kevlar.

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I think we are both grateful that he made the hit. Your experience may differ from mine. I have made that kind of decision before.

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I know GottaRide, GottaRide's a good friend of mine & I know for a fact that the words in bold above are true & correct. Just sayin'.

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Am I angry that he took the shot? Absolutely.

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I heard of a town in Missouri that you should visit. You would fit in well there; bring your cigarette lighter.

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Get off your high horse. I support LEOs just as much as the next guy, but an irresponsible shot is an irresponsible shot in my opinion. Again I ask, what would your response be if his shot missed and hit a civilian? Is it still a responsible shot that he just didn't execute well?

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What evidence/info suggests it was an irresponsible shot?

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For me, simple logic - from the fact that it was at night, one handed, there were multiple physical and mental distractions (horses, for one) and bluntly an EXTREMELY (yes, even for the vaunted OB, who never misses at any range) low percentage shot in an urban area.

He had luck on his side, without a doubt, and that's why we are debating this angle and not the reckless and wanton discharging of a firearm by a mall ninja LEO in an urban area who took a pot shot at night one handed at a suspect and missed his target.

He may have had a good backstop - won't call that.

100 yards is doable, and I can see, given the described behavior, why he felt he had to take a shot like that.

Anyone know what gun he was issued? If it was a stock GLOCK, that was a miracle, since they're groups at 100 M would be a bit absurd

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For me, simple logic - from the fact that it was at night, one handed, there were multiple physical and mental distractions (horses, for one) and bluntly an EXTREMELY (yes, even for the vaunted OB, who never misses at any range) low percentage shot in an urban area.

He had luck on his side, without a doubt, and that's why we are debating this angle and not the reckless and wanton discharging of a firearm by a mall ninja LEO in an urban area who took a pot shot at night one handed at a suspect and missed his target.

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Logic would hinge on the details of his surroundings. Which we dont know.... at least I haven't seen that info yet.

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He may have had a good backstop - won't call that.

100 yards is doable, and I can see, given the described behavior, why he felt he had to take a shot like that.

Anyone know what gun he was issued? If it was a stock GLOCK, that was a miracle, since they're groups at 100 M would be a bit absurd

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APD issues .40 M&P's. Disagree about Glock accuracy, but that isn't the topic of this thread.

Schmellba99,

What you call a pot shot others might consider a suppressing shot. If by firing that round with a relatively clear background, he forces the gunman to change his focus or stop his behavior, lives are likely to be saved. From what we read about most active shooters, they have a good plan until the first time they get confronted. I am assuming from what I have read and what others are saying that the cop had a relatively clear background. Things are never perfect, though.

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Am I angry that he took the shot? Absolutely.

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I heard of a town in Missouri that you should visit. You would fit in well there; bring your cigarette lighter.

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Get off your high horse. I support LEOs just as much as the next guy, but an irresponsible shot is an irresponsible shot in my opinion. Again I ask, what would your response be if his shot missed and hit a civilian? Is it still a responsible shot that he just didn't execute well?

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Why stop the hypothetical questions there?
What would your response be if he had decided not to shoot, the guy got away then killed five people two blocks down the road?

Exactly, and may have gotten lucky from the first shot.

Plus, sounds like this guy was a mounted officer, in know is a lot of cities, they tend to not be the standard patrol guys.

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Am I angry that he took the shot? Absolutely.

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I heard of a town in Missouri that you should visit. You would fit in well there; bring your cigarette lighter.

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Get off your high horse. I support LEOs just as much as the next guy, but an irresponsible shot is an irresponsible shot in my opinion. Again I ask, what would your response be if his shot missed and hit a civilian? Is it still a responsible shot that he just didn't execute well?

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Do you know what was behind the bad guy? The police officer who took the shot knew.

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Schmellba99,

What you call a pot shot others might consider a suppressing shot. If by firing that round with a relatively clear background, he forces the gunman to change his focus or stop his behavior, lives are likely to be saved. From what we read about most active shooters, they have a good plan until the first time they get confronted. I am assuming from what I have read and what others are saying that the cop had a relatively clear background. Things are never perfect, though.

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If it were a battlefield where collateral damage is not high on the priority list, I would agree with you.

But this wasnt exactly a battlefield - this was downtown Austin, where even at 2 in the morning there is still a high probability that an errant round can cause harm to unintended bystanders.

Look, had the guy made the shot with his M4, you likely would have few people give it much thought. But he didnt and instead took a very low probability shot with a weapon not designed to accurately make such shots under poor conditions. And got really lucky. But that still does not take away the fact that it was a poor shot to take for rather obvious reasons.

Nobody has answered my question as to what the reaction would be had he missed, or if it had been a CHL holder taking such a shot under the same circumstances instead of a LEO.

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Nobody has answered my question as to what the reaction would be had he missed, or if it had been a CHL holder taking such a shot under the same circumstances instead of a LEO.

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I didn't address it because it didn't happen. What if another person pulled out an A Bomb? We can play the what if game all day with all kinds of scenarios.

From what I understand the suspect had already unloaded A LOT of rounds. I highly doubt any bystanders were still hanging out and checking out the crazy guy.

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Nobody has answered my question as to what the reaction would be had he missed, or if it had been a CHL holder taking such a shot under the same circumstances instead of a LEO.

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The last thing I read was that at 2:32 there was a report of shots fired at the Police Building and at 2:33 (times may be off but it was 1 minute in between) the officer shot the bad guy.

I wouldn't be pissed if he had missed if he had a good backstop. Nobody on this thread knows what his backstop was. From what I remember the Mounted units keep their trailers on the north side of the building. If he was on that side and the bad guy had just shot up the police station then he would have had a building behind his target.

CHL holder..... I wouldn't have taken that shot with my CC gun. Then again I wouldn't have shot at him even with a rifle because at that point he wasn't a threat to me.

The bottom line is, kind of like the Ferguson shooting, people are making very opinionated statements without knowing the facts. That's why I asked if the poster who was "angry" at the officer taking the shot knew what was behind the bad guy.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance comes to mind...

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Nobody has answered my question as to what the reaction would be had he missed, or if it had been a CHL holder taking such a shot under the same circumstances instead of a LEO.

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I generally agree with much of what you say on here, but this is a scenario that we can "what if" all day long and come up with all kinda of things. Nobody has answered your question because the scenario you posted didn't happen. I'll play along though...

If he missed? It depends? Where did the stray bullet go? What or who did it hit?

If it was a CHL holder? No difference to me if it was LEO or CHL as long as there were legal grounds to use deadly force.

Bottom line is the officer had a shot and must have believed he had a reasonable chance of hitting the bad guy and not someone else. He made that decision based on his training, the circumstances and the surroundings. Until we're in that exact situation we can't say if we'd make that shot or not. While reading this thread earlier today I identified some people walking approximately 100 yards away from me. When shooting at torso sized target, it's really not that far.

Here's a "what if" for you. What if it comes out that this particular officer is an excellent marksmen who shoots competitions and trains for long distance shooting? Was it still irresponsible?

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The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance comes to mind...

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So who is John Wayne and where was he standing?

No clue, but it's a great example of SSS.

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I'm thinking about the time I was almost shot by a Houston cop.

In 1989, my old roommate and I were at Sam's Boat in Houston. They were having a big parking lot party, the lot was fenced off. Around 1 am, a guy just outside the fence pulled a gun. There was a cop 30' on either side of him. I was at a right angle to the gunman, probably 40' away. The cops started shooting, probably a dozen rounds were fired. The gunman was hit in the right shoulder and left hip. There was also a bullet hole in a window about 3' from my head. It had to be from the cops, because the gunman never got a shot off.

I have tended to avoid places like that ever since.

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Sams Boat!

A 100 yd shot on a target that is roughly 18-24 inches at its widest point is a tough shot but far from impossible. If you are serious about pistol shooting and train with a purpose this shot would not be the leviathan you think it is. There are scores of competitive shooters and club level super stars who could do this with a fair amount of ease.

He made the shot because he didn't have time to think about it. It is that simple.

I couldn't duplicate any cool shot I've ever made (all 2 of them) if you took me to the range and gave me unlimited ammo because I couldn't duplicate something that was a reaction.

Now, that being said, there is some training/practice that has to go along with it. Someone that's never fired a weapon wouldn't be able to do it either. However, a guy that has a lot of experience shooting various targets at various distances, can do it. His brain just took over and did it.

Could he duplicate it at the range with his supervisor, the media and gawkers standing around watching? Probably not.

I swear some of you will gripe about anything a cop does. Why in the fook would anyone want to get into law enforcement? Pay? Working hours? Constantly having people analyse your every move on video? The only other profession that gets as much public attention out there are pro sports figures , but they get paid well.

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I swear some of you will gripe about anything a cop does. Why in the fook would anyone want to get into law enforcement? Pay? Working hours? Constantly having people analyse your every move on video? The only other profession that gets as much public attention out there are pro sports figures , but they get paid well.

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Pretty sure they can work as much overtime as they want. Pay is far from bad.

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I swear some of you will gripe about anything a cop does. Why in the fook would anyone want to get into law enforcement? Pay? Working hours? Constantly having people analyse your every move on video? The only other profession that gets as much public attention out there are pro sports figures , but they get paid well.

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Pretty sure they can work as much overtime as they want. Pay is far from bad.

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You sir are grossly incorrect. Overtime has to be approved in most departments and the funding for it can be tricky.

Well then I stand corrected.

Youtube video from a bystander near the scene

You can clearly hear automatic weapons fire at about the 6 second mark. Not much after that other than the dozens of police cars screaming to the scene.

There is a little profanity from the camera person.

i'm sorry, but listening to that lady's narration of the video made me think of Chris Tucker in the 5th element.