Instructors from Eagle Gun Range in Lewisville discuss the skill of a Garland officer who took down two attackers armed with assault rifles and equipped with body armor.
They go through thousands of rounds of ammunition to hone their skills, but gun experts at Eagle Gun Range in Lewisville say no amount of training can prepare someone for the scenario that faced one Garland officer Sunday night.
“I’ve never been shot at, and I hope I never do get shot at,” range owner David Prince said. “But for him to be able to fire like that and make the shots in order to eliminate that danger and stay alive and keep all those people around him alive, I think it’s an amazing feat.”
Garland police say an off-duty traffic officer was guarding the entrance to an event featuring controversial pictures of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed Sunday evening, when two men armed with assault rifles and wearing body armor approached and started shooting.
The officer returned fire armed with only his department-issued handgun, killing the suspects. SWAT team members also fired, using high powered rifles.
To get an idea of the difficulty level, we asked firearms instructor Mark Sligar to act out a similar scenario on the range, using the same type of pistol the Garland officer had — either a .45 caliber or a .40 caliber Glock.
He set up two paper targets at a distance similar to the Garland shooting, based on police accounts. Then, using a technique known as the “Mozambique Drill,” or the “Failure to Stop Drill,” Sligar attempted to land two bullets to the chest and one to the head of each target.
He succeeded on the third try.
“You know, the officer involved in this type of shooting, he had two people shooting at him, plus he’s trying to take out two targets. And if he had to make headshots,” Sligar said “You can see how difficult it was. I mean, that paper’s not shooting back at me. And I even practice quite a bit, but I didn’t do too well today.”
Gun experts say shooting is a perishable skill, meaning it has to be practiced repeatedly over time. Most police officers are required to meet certain standards once or twice a year, but it’s up to each individual officer to put in extra range time.
“I’d like to shake the man’s hand,” Sligar said. ‘That’s awesome shooting. And look at the people’s lives he saved, just because he was able to take care of that.”
We asked instructors from Eagle Gun Range in Lewisville to analyze the skill of a Garland officer who took down two attackers armed with assault rifles and equipped with body armor.
http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/2015/05/05/garland-officer-training/26927035/
