3 Police Officers shot in Fresno

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At least three police officers shot in Fresno confrontation

February 25, 2010|12:14 pm At least three law enforcement officers were shot -- one in the head -- during a confrontation with an arson suspect in the town of Minkler, east of Fresno.

According to theFresno Bee, four people were rushed to a hospital, including two Fresno County sheriff's deputies and a police officer from the town of Reedley.

Their conditions were unknown, but one of the deputies apparently suffered life-threatening wounds to his head, the Bee said.

The shooting suspect is a man wanted on suspicion of arson, officials said, andhe is holed up in a home in Minkler, where the shooting occurred.

The Associated Press reported the home is being surrounding by law enforcement officials.
-- Shelby Grad
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/02/at-least-three-police-officers-shot-in-fresno-standoff.html

Yata hey

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Seriously bad juju.

http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/02/25/1836634/officer-involved-shooting-reported.html

More expansion and a timeline of events.

About 15 minutes away from my usual haunts. You'd think moving away from downtown, out to the innocent unincorp/suburby area would put some distance between you and the crazies. Nope.


Edit: Holy moley, it is going down like madness out there. Last I heard the shootout was still going on. Traffic is blocked off eeeverywhere.

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UNFORTUNATE UPDATE

A Fresno County Deputy has passed away...


BETTER NEWS

The suspect is also dead, but no details yet on how.


Read it here

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There have to be some honest police in California. I would hate it when one is injured or killed.

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There are thousands of honest Police in California, but honest or a little shady, it's always tragic when one is killed.

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I hate it when something like this happens. LEOs should be our natural allies and we need all the Good Guys we can get to fight against violent criminals.

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First off, this was a horrible event, and whenever anyone is killed in the line of duty, or elsewhere, it is tragic. But as with all tragic events, the more serious the tragedy, the more important the lessons to be learned afterward are.

I am going to try to keep the speculation to a minimum, but without a full police report in front of me, some assumptions need to be made.

Authorities had come to Liles' mobile home Thursday morning with a search warrant because he was suspected of setting a series of fires in the Minkler area and also was a suspect in half a dozen recent shootings, including one that injured a neighbor.

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This is where it seems the first mistake was made. From what I have read and heard on the radio, they went in with only 2 sheriff's deputies and an arson investigator. Maybe someone can fill me in if this is normal police policy, but it seems like a suspect in half a dozen shootings would warrant a little extra caution. Maybe not a full swat team, but a good six or seven officers would have probably been a good idea. Again, I don't mean to judge the sheriff's (or whoever makes that call)'s decisions, I'm merely trying to understand what happened and learn from the event.

Over about two hours, some two dozen officers fired about 400 bullets into the home, police said. But in the end, police say, Liles ended his own life. Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said his body was found face down in the bedroom with a handgun next to him. His only wound was a single bullet to the head.
His wife -- to the surprise of many officers -- walked out of the mobile home alive.

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This is the part of the story that I have the biggest problem with. 24 officers firing about 17 rounds each, weren't able to hit a man one single time. Granted, I don't know how far away the guy was, but I really don't think that's an excuse. Unless they were surrounding his house from 800 yards away, I don't see a reason for nobody to hit him. It reminds me of a common scene in movies where 30 or 40 officers are surrounding someone or something, and then one officer accidentally fires, and the rest just follow until their guns are empty.
Let's give them the benefit of the doubt, and say that for some reason they were all 100 yards away and using their handguns. I might not be a great shot, but I don't think it would be crazy to think I could hit a man-sized target at least 1 out of 17 times. And take into account that they (presumably) have at least shotguns - if not a few rifles- available, and the extremely low hit percentage (0%) is really worrisome. These are the people most citizens trust their lives to. These are the people who are allowed to carry guns in ways and places that most of us can't. How can they be expected to stop a violent criminal on the streets, on their own, when a group of them, shooting from a stationary position, can't hit a single target. Before anyone accuses me of cop-bashing, please understand that that is not my intention. This just worries me. I think it's time for the police in this area to get some better training.

EDIT: link to story I got the quotes from.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/02/26/1839186/minkler-suspect-planned-on-deadly.html

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You raise some good points.

I think the first issue might be explained better by the fact that Fresno in general is having some major staffing/funding issues, and I know that is opening a can of worms, but it might be the explanation for their protocol.

It was very dangerous to return fire without being able to confirm the target, and given that we don't know all the particulars we shouldn't speculate too much.

If you recall what happened at Ruby Ridge, when Lon Horiuchi did what he did there was some very serious repercussions for not confirming his target. Again another contentious parallel that might not have its place in this discussion.

I'm glad the wife wasn't hurt, she was very fortunate, it is a shame the officers weren't so lucky.

I'm surprised that when the officers retreated they didn't get their ARs, they have them.

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Ughhhh, too much speculating and cop bashing. My prayers go out to the families of the officers. RIP.

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You're right, the department is more acutely aware of any mistakes, and will address them, but right now is more a time of grief.

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OPS MARINE wrote:

...BETTER NEWS...

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lol