feedthehogs
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Thursday, June 19, 2008
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla.-Three police officers fired 23 shots at a van whose driver was allegedly trying to hit them after a burglary at CarMax this morning, the department said.
Seven people, five of them juveniles, were taken into custody. No one was struck by the shots.
The chaotic scene began taking shape about 1:30 a.m. when Boynton Beach police received a call about a burglary in progress at the CarMax on High Ridge Road. When officers arrived they spotted two people in the CarMax car lot. The pair ran to a Dodge Caravan that was waiting in a parking lot just south of CarMax.
The driver accelerated in an attempt to strike officers, police said. Fearing for their safety, Officers Raymond Lugo, Chad Shane and David Britto fired their weapons, striking the van numerous times, police said. Shane fired an AR-15 assault rifle. The officers, who have been on the force less than two years each, have been placed on routine paid administrative leave.
The van's driver, Gene Autry Hall, 20, of West Palm Beach admitted to stealing the Caravan from Riviera Beach and driving it Boynton Beach to burglarize additional vehicles. He also admitted to driving at officers. He said he stopped driving when he heard bullets hitting the van.
Hall is charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and grand theft.
Six others, all of West Palm Beach, were also charged in the incident, including Jimmy Gray, 19, of 786 Lakaya Drive, who was charged with burglary to an auto, burglary to a structure, resisting arrest without violence.
The others involved were juveniles ranging in age from 14 to 17.
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While it states the driver stopped when he heard shots hit the van, it sounds more like they bounced off. 7 people in a caravan, 23 shots and no one got hit. And an AR on top of it.
Why is it that police depts don't give the firearms training needed especially since many depts now allow their officers to carry AR's?
My nephew is an officer in PA and constantly trains on his own time to remain above dept standards at his own cost. His idea is that the extra training is for the most important reason of not hitting an innocent civilian in a shoot out and second making sure he can stop a threat to him or other officers in the quickest amount of time thus saving lives.