73 year old Florida woman shot dead in citizens police academy demonstration

[The Annoyed Man]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/mor ... imulation/

Details of where she was shot and how a loaded gun came into play have not yet been released. The woman was attending a citizens police academy class in Punta Gorda, Florida. During a scenario simulation in which she played the victim, and the police officer played the bad guy, he shot her. She was rushed to a hospital and pronounced dead.

[LucasMcCain]

1. Always treat every gun like it's loaded.
2. Never point a gun at anything you don't want to destroy.
3. Finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire.
4. Always be sure of your target and your backstop.

Could you do me a favor and forward that to the Punta Gorda PD? I think they could benefit from this information.

That poor woman and her family. Not to mention all of the spectators. Why even use real guns for something like that? Why not blue guns or pellet guns or something? I just don't understand how they could let that happen.

[WildBill]

This is exactly why they make blue guns.
There is no reason to use a real firearm in this type of demonstration/training exercise.

Prayers for the woman and her family. RIP

[Redneck_Buddha]

I have no words...

[lildave40]

This is a sad situation. I will bet the libtards are going to ride this as long as possible.

[Papa_Tiger]

This is a sad situation. I will bet the libtards are going to ride this as long as possible.

Nah, doesn't fit the narrative. Only highly trained police and federal officers and soldiers are responsible enough to be allowed to handle guns. Here, there is the possibility that a trained officer or officers, depending on how the simulation was being run, was/were negligent and a woman died. This will be buried very quickly, or possibly used as a cautionary tale of why the serfs don't need to know what is going on in our police departments. The less the serfs know the better...

[Scott B.]

Good grief. That is beyond horrible.

[Beiruty]

While clearing and making gun safe. I speculate this what happened
He racked the pistol, eject a bullet BEFORE removing the magazine.
Removed the magazine and declared the pistol safe. It was Glock with no manual safety
And, the rest is will go in the annals of the news magazines.

[MeMelYup]

While clearing and making gun safe. I speculate this what happened
He racked the pistol, eject a bullet BEFORE removing the magazine.
Removed the magazine and declared the pistol safe. It was Glock with no manual safety
And, the rest is will go in the annals of the news magazines.

Wouldn't have to be a Glock. A lot of firearms sold specifically to police don't have the no magazine lockout.

[The Annoyed Man]

While clearing and making gun safe. I speculate this what happened
He racked the pistol, eject a bullet BEFORE removing the magazine.
Removed the magazine and declared the pistol safe. It was Glock with no manual safety
And, the rest is will go in the annals of the news magazines.

You may be right as to the failure to remove the magazine before clearing the chamber, but I don't think that the lack of an external manual safety comes into play. Unless the gun had a magazine disconnect — and most Sigs, M&Ps, Glocks, etc., etc., do NOT have a magazine disconnect unless they are sold in a state like California — it wouldn't have mattered if it was a Glock or some other brand. You rack the slide, which (a) ejects the chambered round, (b) cocks the gun, and (c) chambers a new round, and the gun is now hot. MY M&P45 came with a thumb safety, but most of the M&Ps I've seen, including those carried by cops, did not have one. If it was a 1911, he would not have been able to rack the slide at all if the thumb safety was engaged. So in all likelihood, the Glock's lack of an external thumb safety had nothing to do with it.....if it was a Glock. After all, this was not a case of "Glock-leg", it was a case of aiming a real gun at a target the shooter did not intend to destroy, on the assumption that it was either unloaded, or not a real gun, and then pulling the trigger.

All of the basic rules of safety were violated.

[SewTexas]

something I read said that he didn't clear the chamber....

[baseballguy2001]

I agree with other posters, the weapon was probably made 'safe' incorrectly. One of the first lessons learned when I got a semi auto, in order to make sure the gun is clear, drop the magazine first, then rack the slide open and check for a round. Certainly an LEO knows that too. Personal opinion here, somebody has to be held accountable. The State investigators will probably declare this a tragic accident, and the officer who pulled the trigger might wind up with a reprimand, or a serious blot on his career. In my opinion, it's a career ender at a minimum.

[SewTexas]

they only "excuse"....and I'm using that word very loosely. If if this was this officer's first time in front of an "audience"? and he was nervous? but even then clearing his weapon should be muscle memory, like folding towels.

[Scott B.]

As stated previously, blue guns exist for a reason.

[Vol Texan]

I agree with other posters, the weapon was probably made 'safe' incorrectly. One of the first lessons learned when I got a semi auto, in order to make sure the gun is clear, drop the magazine first, then rack the slide open and check for a round. Certainly an LEO knows that too. Personal opinion here, somebody has to be held accountable. The State investigators will probably declare this a tragic accident, and the officer who pulled the trigger might wind up with a reprimand, or a serious blot on his career. In my opinion, it's a career ender at a minimum.

Yeah, but for you and me, it would be a freedom-ended. The officer may lose his job, but we would face prison time, I'm sure.