(CNN) Officers shot suspect 68 times

[Charinida]

Hrmm... 10 officers, 110 rounds fired, only 68 hits...

How much of him (suspect) was left, assuming the exit points weren't overly huge? Standard rounds are 9mm overall, right? Or do some officers prefer something else, like a .45 or .357? Then again, these were SWAT so were they using rifles or shotguns (but that would be crazy using a shotgun outdoors, unless it was a slug?).

"I suspect the only reason 110 rounds was all that was fired was that's all the ammunition they had," Judd said. "We were not going to take any chance of him shooting back."

Okay, so am I being morbit by being a lil' curious?

To my thinking, at least justice was done. To some others (maybe the relatives of that person), they might think they went overboard.

Orig: Officers shot suspect 68 times (http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/10/01/deputy.shooting.ap/index.html)

MSNBC (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15012086/) has it written differently, while Yahoo has written pretty much the same as CNN's write up...

***

LAKELAND, Florida (AP) -- Officers fired 110 rounds of ammunition at the man suspected of killing a sheriff's deputy, according to an autopsy and records released by the sheriff's office Saturday.

[Asharad]

Hrmm... 10 officers, 110 rounds fired, only 68 hits...

Seems like pretty good shooting. Hitting stuff is hard, especially if it is moving.

[GravenStone]

A lot of agencies are moving to .40 caliber. And overkill is only to be expected. The guy was a cop killer - someone who has already shown themselves to have no respect for society or the rule of law - often viewed as the "worst of the worst" by police.

Although the spokesman's response does echo an old joke a friend of mine is fond of...

"You shot the man 37 times! Why in the hell did you shoot the man 37 times?"

"I ran out of bullets?"

[Greebo]

Cop-killers have a notoriously short life span, don't they.

[Lycos]

Cops take it really bad when one of their own gets shot. I don't blame them.

[deepfred]

yeah i'm usually the first to be a bit sensitive to "police brutality" (my dad hired LA cops for 30 years), but in this case i was surprised by their restraint.

specially cause the perp killed the dog.

[DirkDarkBlade]

Lakeland is near where I was born and where my grandparents used to live.

[RJO]

If you were an officer attending would you take the chance?

[Greebo]

If you were an officer attending would you take the chance?
I wouldn't take either - not the chance of him killing another brother in blue, and not the chance of some judge letting him off on a technicality.

[Gaelrond]

There was a recent escaped convict here in NY who was a cop-killer. Managed to evade police for several weeks after escaping a jail using a can opener (no, I don't know how that's possible). When they finally tracked him down in the woods, despite the fact he was armed, they took him peacefully. I was surprised and impressed by the restraint shown by the police.

[Sir Rubi]

Well, assuming they were using MP5's...

MP5's have a 15 to 30 round magazine, on average and a firing rate of 800 rounds per minute. Nine SWAT officers fired at just over 13 rounds per second.

They had hardly pulled their triggers and were all aiming ;)

EDIT: Unless they were using Beretta's or another pistol, instead, of course. That doesn't sound like SWAT, though.

[Sylvene]

Don't SWAT use rifles like AR-15 / M-16s?

[GravenStone]

Depends on department standards and circumstances. MP-5s (or similar) are handy for close quarters building interior work. Long guns like the M-16 family a bit less so. Plus with the long arms there is an increased danger of rounds penetrating structure and possibly endangering others.

[Draknor]

It looks like Beretta's have magazines ranging from 10 to 15 depending on the model. If there's 10 officers this is nothing - and they're pretty darn good shots, too.

When I took gun training/safety, I was told to only point a gun at something I intended to shoot, and if I was shooting something it was with the intent to kill. Our gun safety classes were given by local police officers and they did an excellent job of instilling in me a healthy respect for firearms.

The suspect had already killed one officer and was shooting at others. While I doubt we'll ever have all the details, if I had been one of the officers in this situation, darn right I would have emptied my magazine(s).