Thursday, April 8, 2010

Close-in shooting on a steel target

Cal Skinner reports on www.mchenrycountyblog.com/ today that a FOIA response to him from the McHenry County Sheriff's Department indicates that the vicious-dog paper target was destroyed and discarded by the sheriff's department. The exact words were, “The actual one used was destroyed during the exercise-it’s made of paper.”

Evidence was destroyed?

On that day the SWAT teams comprised two elements. Woods' team was an 8-man element.

Dep. Morrow's report provides the sequences. After a period of dry-fire rotations through the training room, with no targets in place, the teams moved on to live-fire exercises with targets arranged in the room. No description is given as to target placement.

After each element goes through live-fire entry, the targets were re-positioned and the vicious-dog target on a steel mounting plate was moved to a point only four feet into the room. The first SWAT element completed its live-fire exercise without any reported problems. I wonder what that diagram looks like.

The element of which Woods was a member then approached and entered the room. By that time, unless targets were charged on their mounting frames, there should have been many bullet holes in all of the targets.

On McHenry County Blog you can view photographs of two male shooter targets facing the SWAT team. There are a few holes in them and no near-misses.

There are not nearly enough holes for six live-fire rotations through the "room". So, were the targets changed at some point? Were fresh targets put up before each element entered? That would make sense to me.

If fresh targets were placed before each element entered and if Dep. Hart was the only one who fired on the vicious-dog target, as his report indicates, then the target would have one bullet hole in it (maybe) and it would not have been "destroyed during the exercise."

No one's report included a statement that he removed the paper dog target from the steel reactive target, made of 500-Brinell steel. Who would stand just to the left of a target like that, at which another team member was very likely to shoot, and what deputy would ever take a shot on a steel target that was even with another deputy?

Unless the shooter didn't realize he was firing at a steel target... Did Dep. Hart think he was firing at a paper target (not mounted on a steel plate), when he fired on the vicious-dog target?

5 comments:

Zane said...

Mr. Philpott, you and Mr. Skinner are on to something. You are never going to get the whole story from the memos.
Woods was the first one in the room. He wasn't part of the stack.
MCSD exposed tells the real story.
Initiation is what they called it.

Departmental Memos are not legal documents. Not like reports.

Anonymous said...

I think they were actually shooting at Deputy Woods, but ya know the cops cant hit the broad side of a barn so they mainly missed and hit the vicious dog, which deflected a frag that "bit" Woods.
DOH!

ps. does all this nonsense keep you up at night?

GeneL said...

I hear that Woods is out on workmens comp for another 4 weeks for his "road rash". I hope he sues the dept. and those involved for his TWAT team initiation. Will he be sent to the academy upon his return. A lot changes in police work in a few weeks.(that's a joke Wannabee) Has anybody called OSHA yet? Woods, if you talk you could probably get a big enough settlement that you wouldn't have to work there anymore.

QuitWhiningAlready said...

TMB, I think you might be onto something. Not to mention, all this talk of "initiation" and such should reveal that every member of the SWAT team has been shot by another, more senior member of the SWAT team, shouldn't it? It's hazing. /rolls eyes.

mike said...

GeneL or is that Zane? Maybe you can check up on Workman's Compensation and suing the employer. Not likely that will happen. But then how would you know? You're not that bright I don't think.