Understanding What’s behind your target

The video camera of Los Angeles police officer William Dorsey Jones Jr. clearly captured the officer shooting and killing 14-year old Valentina Orellana Peralta. She was hiding from an attacker who was assaulting a female customer with a bicycle lock. I’m going to take the side of the family who will undoubtedly be suing officer Jones and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) for this discussion. I will take the side the family of the victim who will undoubtedly sue officer Jones and the Los Angeles Police Department. Officer Jones fired three shots from start to finish in less than a second. If the suspect had stood still and faced officer Jones, it’s likely that all shots would have hit him. The suspect was facing the wrong way at the time the shots were fired. He was also bent over, moving and falling down as the shots fired. This resulted in at least one missed shot. Was the outcome the fault officer Jones? It would not be his fault if he was trained to fire a multi-shot volley in those circumstances. I bring this up because this happens all the time during police training. I own a range that rents out time to local law enforcement agencies. While I don’t usually observe their training, i certainly listen to them. It’s common to hear this type of rapid-fire shooting (three shots in less than one second) at a shooting range. The AR-15 rifle has an optical sight that looks like the ACOG mounted on the top of the handle. To sight through that optic mounted that way, a person must raise his head, resulting in a poor if non-existent cheek weld–a good cheek weld being a necessary component to shooting rabidly and accurately.Additionally, shooting that quickly was not called for in that scenario. Orellana Peralta would still be alive today if she had fired a single, well-aimed shot with the appropriate assessment. The result would have been the same (the suspect down, but not assaulting anyone). At that distance, it could have been done in the same time, if not quicker. If I were the plaintiff’s expert, I would look into the LAPD’s training protocols to see if Officer Jones had recently received training in shooting moving targets. It’s unlikely. I have yet to see any police agency address this important aspect of firearms instruction. Back in the mid-1980s I was a firearms instructor at a small department (six people), and our training consisted of standing on the firing line and shooting an officer qualification. I then learned of the Federal District Court Case Popow V. Margate (Popowv. City of Margate 476 F. Supp. 1237 (D.N.J. In that case, the City of Margate, due to its failure to train, was found to be culpable in violation of civil rights. The Court stated that the only training was shooting instruction at a range located in Atlantic County approximately every six months. There was no instruction in shooting at moving targets, night shooting or shooting in residential areas. Margate is almost entirely residential. “This case will come down a question of training. If the LAPD trained their officers to deal with moving targets in stressful situations, they will likely avoid being found negligently responsible in this case. Officer Jones will not be held responsible if he can prove that he was following his training. The target grids and bullseye size are in MOA. Subscribe to the Gun Digest newsletter and we will send you your print-at home target pack immediately. Enter your email below.