25 Sept 00

>From a LEO friend in South Africa:

"We just had another shooting incident Friday, involving two of our officers:

The two officers had the bad habit of frequenting the same shop every day (at the same time) for lunch. Friday, they were there once again for lunch when an unconfirmed number of men walked in. Both officers were sitting with their backs back to the entrance.

Without hesitation, one of the men walked up behind the first officer and shot him in the back of the head. After penetrating the skull, the round (9mm hardball) was deflected by the jaw and stopped just under the officer's left eye.

When the second officer turned around, the assailant attempted to shoot him also, but the hammer on his pistol fell without the gun discharging. Astonished, the bad guy turned and fled, along with his accomplices. The second officer (armed with our standard-issue CZ-75, loaded with PMP 115g hardball) was unhurt but did not fire any rounds.

The perpetrators made a clean getaway and no arrests have been made.

The first officer is in intensive care and has lost his eye. He will undoubtedly suffer permeant disability, along with permanent disfigurement.

I am once again in bad graces with our management, as I stood up and told them (before the incident) that advertising the fact in the local press that we have recently issued soft body armor to our officers was foolish and would lead to our officers being shot in the head. We didn't have long to wait!"

Lessons:

>We must be thinking about fighting all the time. When violence comes, it is almost without warning, and we must quickly cut through the inevitable denial and explode into action without delay if we expect to be victorious. A perceived state of "safety" will lull us into complacency if we allow it.

>The only one in a position to save you, and the only one who has any real interest in saving you, is you. You're on your own. We must never allow ourselves to believe help is going to arrive just in the nick of time. That only happens in movies.

>Don't delude yourself into believing that you are too insignificant to become a target

>Don't move according to predictable patterns

>Don't sit with your back to the door!

/John