off-duty Brazilian cop shoots two armed robbers dead while holding his baby

[old lady new shooter]

This is unbelievable. Baby in support arm, gun in strong hand, he runs around the store and shoots the two robbers. By that time his wife has sneaked through an aisle to get close enough for him to hand off the baby to her.

Is this a case of all's well that ends well, or should he never have done what he did?

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/1...ps-attempted-robbery-while-holding-child.html

 

[If1HitU]

I'm sorry but if my baby is in my arms and i'm not in danger,i'm not engaging. Just me, my life I can take that chance,but not my child's life.

 

[1KPerDay]

Dude's a certified badass, regardless.

 

[SteadyD]

Hope it didn't hurt the baby's hearing.

 

[MedWheeler]

It's not the first time I've seen such a video involving an off-duty Brazilian cop shooting someone while holding a child. It's quite possible that expectations of them might be different than of ours, or simply a difference in "cop culture" there. The officer indicated he was afraid of what would happen once he identified himself as an officer, so he may have been obligated by the requirements of his job to do so. I find it difficult to believe that such a requirement, if indeed in place, would apply in all situations, but I'm not there and can't say one way or the other. When I was on the job, we did indeed have a "duty to respond", even when off-duty, and each of us was required to have our badge, ID, and firearm at all times while within the city. However, it was written into the policy that unreasonable risk was not required.

As pointed out, there are some factors that would have to be known before I could make such a decision on this particular case. In other words, I would actually have to have been there. Robbers in Brazil seem to be more brazen than many of them here, and there is no guarantee that they'll leave without exacting violence as they do so. Yes, that happens here, too, but it seems less common than there.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

There is a possibility he felt he and his child were in danger of death or greivous bodily harm of he did not act immediately; I was not there so I don't know exactly what his situation was.
This is one of those situations that reminds me of the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Armchair admirals criticize USN Admiral Halsey and IJN Admiral Kurita for their decisions with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight and more information than Halsey or Kurita had available to them.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Saw the video. Not sure I would go with the cop thinking the baby was the one in danger, and then handing the baby off to his wife. Maybe he needed to act immediately, but instead of retreating with the baby, he continued to engage with the baby. He didn't appear to be working all that hard to try to shield it with his own body either. Having more of the video showing how the situation developed would be a lot more enlightening.

Hope it didn't hurt the baby's hearing.

Of course it did.

 

[edwardware]

There is a possibility he felt he and his child were in danger of death or greivous bodily harm of he did not act immediately. . .

Given it's Brazil, a much more violent place than here, he may have been perfectly reasonable in believing that he and his family were about to be killed.

 

[bubba in ca]

Good shooting!
Brazil is rough country, shoot first and shoot straight.

 

[Peakbagger46]

Wow. I’m pretty sure I’d be the victim of a domestic violence homicide if my wife watched me pull that one off.

 

[Speedo66]

Great situational awareness, he was scanning like crazy.

Here, with the female gangbangers, it's usually "hold my baby" before the trouble starts.

 

[huntsman]

Brazil is the latest case study in SHTF behavior, can we apply our logic to their current situation? Don’t know but we can learn from it.

 

[NickEllis]

Cops in Brazil are highly exposed to corruption, and frequently targeted with violence if they don't cooperate with the local crime syndicates. Many off duty cops are killed due to reprisals and the ones I know are extremely sensitive to threats to their family.

These guys aren't "tactical". Just very blue-collar people exposed to the worst of the worst.

 

[George P]

There is a whole 'nother mindset there that most of us can't even begin to comprehend or understand.

 

[Aikibiker]

Cops in Brazil are highly exposed to corruption, and frequently targeted with violence if they don't cooperate with the local crime syndicates. Many off duty cops are killed due to reprisals and the ones I know are extremely sensitive to threats to their family.

These guys aren't "tactical". Just very blue-collar people exposed to the worst of the worst.

That and I have seen that quite often in robberies down there after they steal everything from the cash register they start frisking the customers and taking valuables. If they did that and found his gun they would have executed him out hand, probably killed the kid too. His best bet was to counter attack at the first opportunity, even with the kid in his arms. Terrible, but that is the hand fate dealt him and it seems to have worked out.

 

[NWPilgrim]

If you are going to shoot then get on with it. He obviously decided early on he and his family were in imminent danger and instead of waiting to see how it played out he acted instantly to take advantage of the element of surprise. Many times the instant action makes up for many other less than ideal decisions when the stakes are very high. Waiting a few more seconds and he could have been at a huge tactical disadvantage.

He was aware, determined there was a grave danger, and made a decision, and acted. Classic example of getting inside the robbers' OODA loop. Many, many folks would not have realized what the heck was going on until the window of opportunity to act was closed.

 

[GEM]

FYI, it is not uncommon to run a stage in a match or a FOF exercise, where you are carrying a baby. Marty Hayes took a picture of me with a 'baby' at Tom Given's Tactical Conference when it was the Polite Society. Baby dummy in one hand, Glock 19 in another. A police friend said it had great posture and aggressive aspect. My art type daughter thought it had great composition. Haha. At that stage, a well known trained was dinged for throwing the baby a far distance to get it behind cover. You were supposed to get to cover, but throwing the baby wasn't it.

Funny, I was a bad guy once and took the baby as hostage. When the gun fight started in the exercise, I shielded the baby with my body. I was asked: Why? I should have used the baby as a human shield. Guess I was a not a realistic bad guy role player. Came from being a daddy, I guess.

 

[Polar Express]

We use a weighted, home-made 'doll' to simulate what GEM ^^^ is referring to.
I wouldn't dare pass judgment against the cop/dad in this case, as I wasn't there, or privy to ALL of the details that some have suggested would likely have been in play. Never been to Brazil, don't know what that's like, but I suspect it's a different world there.
What I do like is the idea of "decide quick if you're going to act, then do so quickly". You only get a moment to get the drop on a bad guy, and you'd best be able to recognize it. Know your abilities, and for gosh sake, train under stress.

PE