A Fifty-One Second Gunfight

[OldStar]

For a totally inadequate account of a fantastic police shootout go to: http://www.wftv.com/news/3644346/detail.html

Let me tell you the "inside story" as posted on our local law enforcment officers bulletin board.

Orange County, (Orlando) Florida, Deputy Jennifer Fulford and her partner were ambushed while responding to a 911 home invasion call. Three males were in the home for the purpose of hijacking a stash of marijuana when the deputies arrived.

The men opened fire and struck both Jennifer and her partner. Jennifer was hit seven times, including a round to her gun hand, incapcitating that hand. She emptied her gun, shooting one of the three, who subsequently died. Then using her knees and her unwounded hand she reloaded and killed a second man with a shot to the head. The third man fled but was caught later.

In the gun battle, which lasted 51 seconds, Jennifer fired 21 rounds. Her partner, who was also wounded, fired 4.

Her weapon was a Glock .45 caliber, but this story is not about Glocks, it is about my heroine - Deputy Jennifer Fulford.

I've never met her, but I think I'm in love.

 

[Damon]

Good job, Deputy Fulford!!!

 

[Mulliga]

Then using her knees and her unwounded hand she reloaded and killed a second man with a shot to the head.

Holy schlamoly - that's hardcore. Glad she's okay - I assume she was wearing body armor and/or the thugs were using small-caliber guns?

 

[ZeroX]

Gracious, that is mighty hot.

 

[ZeroX]

Oh great, several other news articles cite that they were using semiautomatic AK-47s. What timing...

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Apparently injured shooter and off hand drills pay off!

I am not sure of the significance of the event taking 51 seconds, but it definitely falls outside of the typical norm situation, leo or civilian. Then again, copy shootings often don't fit the civilian norm. The fight lasted longer, a reload was involved, and offhand injured shooter procedures were used. Unlike civilian shootings, it sounds like the officer was some distance from her attackers as opposed to being within just a few feet. I am just guessing here, but I would bet her ballistic vest came into play, maybe the other officer's as well.

Interesting note about the ND when other officers arrived. Just guessing, but I would bet it was the result of her finger being on the trigger and dealing with an adrenaline dump. It has been a long time since reading about similar events, but apparently for some folks, enough twitching caused by the adrenaline can result in hand twitching far enough to cause a discharge. Fortunately, the gun was pointed at the ground.

The bottom line is that the officers survived, but the 2 hits out of 25 (26 with the ND) isn't going to raise the dept's hit percentage.

 

[Browns Fan]

Thanks for the post, Oldstar, and welcome to THR!

 

[trapshooter]

DNS:

The bottom line is that the officers survived, but the 2 hits out of 25 (26 with the ND) isn't going to raise the dept's hit percentage

Sorry, but I don't get this from either the posts or the article itself. Two hairballs down, not "two hits" from 25-26 shots. Nowhere did I see how many hits registered on the BG's.

My understanding (from actually reading the linked article), is that the partner was hit before firing, and it's not clear when Deputy Fulford was hit initially, but it's implied that she was firing before she was hit, at two targets 180 degrees apart.

MVHO is that, in this situation, they did a pretty good job. It's one thing to fire at paper, something else again to shoot at something shooting back at you (and hitting) .

I think Deputy Fulford can be excused for the ND after being hit seven times.

 

[TamThompson]

Kudos to Deputy Fulford!
Do we know which flavor of Glock .45 it was? Was it a Glock 21, or a 30?

 

[SunBear]

Nice work, officer. Never, never, never, never, never, never, never, ever quit Taking out the trash!!!

 

[BeLikeTrey]

Is she married?

Man what a WOMAN!

Mrs. Fowler, Mrs. Fowler

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Quote from Trapshooter:
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Sorry, but I don't get this from either the posts or the article itself. Two hairballs down, not "two hits" from 25-26 shots. Nowhere did I see how many hits registered on the BG's.

My understanding (from actually reading the linked article), is that the partner was hit before firing, and it's not clear when Deputy Fulford was hit initially, but it's implied that she was firing before she was hit, at two targets 180 degrees apart.
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Wow Trapshooter! That is amazing. You have some great powers of reading such that you are able to extrapolate information not even presented.

Contrary to what you "actually" read, she was not described as fighting two targets 180 degrees apart. Given that it does say she could not get out of the garage, for her attackers to be 180 degrees apart would have made for an interesting fight. That would mean if she were facing one attacker, the other would be directly behind her at some distance. The article says the bad guys were in two different directions, not 180 degrees.

The article and Old Star's summary post did not mention the bad guys getting hit more than once, you are correct, but given the positive tone of the of Old Star's report and the fact that it wasn't a breaking news story, had the officers scored more hits, those would have been mentioned in helping to describe the great effort made by the officers. What was described was that two bad guys were hit, apparently one shot each.

That, sir, is the information presented. Maybe Old Star could provide us the link to the other forum where the information is discussed on the local BBS and maybe then some other 'facts' might be apparent that might help shed light on the specifics.

In case you are curious and the link goes down, here is the article cited above...
--------+-----------+------------+-----------+---------+-------
Details Released About Deadly Shootout In Pine Hills

POSTED: 5:52 pm EDT August 11, 2004
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Eyewitness News has uncovered dramatic new information about the Pine Hills shootout that injured two Orange County deputies last May.

Three gunmen who were allegedly stealing drugs from a home opened fire on the deputies. The deputies survived, but two of the gunmen did not.

The deadly shootout lasted for only 51 seconds. The two deputies fired 25 shots altogether, about one every two seconds

Two men were shooting at Deputy Jennifer Fulford at the same time and, after her good arm went numb, she picked up her gun with her other hand and kept firing at them.

At 7:59:01 that morning, Fulford radioed, "Shots fired." Fifty-one seconds later, Deputy Dwayne Martin radioed, "Shot one."

The whole thing lasted less than a minute. But during that minute, reports that just became public Wednesday show Fulford went into the Allens' house to protect the children but did not know the men inside were armed.

Martin says he heard her scream. Moments later, he was shot in the shoulder, then returned fire, shooting four times.

The report says Fulford was crouched down, walking out of the garage, when the gunmen opened fire. She couldn't get out, because one of the gunmen was coming at her. She returned fire, then another gunmen came at her firing. She got hit in the leg, then hit again and again.

She reloaded her firearm and kept shooting at both of them in two different directions. She was shot in the arm, dropped her gun, then picked it up with her other hand. She kept firing and so did they, until they suddenly stopped.

Back-up deputies say, when they got to her, she was in shock and accidentally fired one more shot into the ground.

 

[OldStar]

He didn't die.

Interestingly, the BG who was shot in the head and was reportedly dead, did not die.

I saw a subsequent report where he recovered and was jailed. And, hold on to your hats, there was a mix-up in communications between the jail in Florida and the cops in North Carolina which resulted in failure to put a "hold" on him in Florida. He was released from jail in Florida and now is on the loose. (For reasons not given, his nick-name is "The Black Russian.")

The third BG is still in jail and charged with murder. Down here if you participate in a felony in which ANYONE is killed you can be charged with murder even if you did not fire a shot. The story indicated that the guy charged with murder threw down his gun before the first shot was fired. I certainly don't understand why the guy who was shot in the head wasn't also charged with murder and held locally. Somehow they really messed up on him.

I also noted in a follow-up story that the police recovered two AK-47s and three handguns at the scene.

It also indicated that all of Deputy Fulford's wounds were in her arms and legs and her right hand.

It won't help to give you the law enforcement bulletin board that the notice of the gunfight appeared on because the account has scrolled off as being out of date. The board is less sophisticated than this one.

However, if you are interested in seeing the board, it is www.LEOaffairs.com and when you go to the message board section you will see several different local law enforcement agencies have their own areas. I do most of my posting on the board of the agency from which I retired, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

Most of the chatter on the board right now is about preparation for Hurricane Ivan.

 

[Waitone]

Any word on the good officer's injuries? 7 hits to the arms, legs, and hand will result in problems. I hope and pray she recovers fully but I suspect there will be long term injury.