This video is terrifying:
MIDDLEFIELD, Ohio — Police here said today they still do not know why James Gilkerson jumped out his car and began firing at Middlefield police officers who had pulled him over after Gilkerson had run a stop sign in the village.
They did say Gilkerson fired 37 rounds from an AK-47 rifle on March 10, and that the two officers fired back with 54 rounds of their own, killing the Mentor-on-the Lake man.
Full Story – HERE
When ever anyone ever says police officers get paid too much I like to refer them to videos like this. How much is getting into a gunfight like that worth to you? I can honestly say that if someone said “Mike, I’ll give you a million dollars to pass training and be a cop for only one week, but you are going to get into a gunfight at some point during that week which you may or may not make it out of” I would pass. That’s how much I respect the work police officers and the military do. Sure a lot of it may be what people consider babysitting, but the possibility of any type of crazy situation like this happening makes me feel like they deserve every penny and more of their salary. There is really no price I would feel comfortable putting on my life. The one officer lost a finger in the encounter… I’d really have to think what even that would be worth to me.
Was the gunman trained by Buck Yeager? (see pic 7/10 in the slideshow) Yea he could have got that book from anywhere I know, I’m just curious… it’s not like it really makes a difference.
Pic 8/10 “Advanced Close-Range Gunfighting” – Oops… must have just got that one. Lucky for the cops.
I always roll my eyes when they present books like that to try and paint what a bad guy he was. I think the fact he unloaded 37 rounds at the police is good enough evidence, not the fact he had a keen interest in weapons and explosives. That hardly makes him a “terrorist” as the police chief so eloquently put it.
Thoughts?
JUMP DOWN ↓ TO ADD ANOTHER
Suicide by cop.
“Terrorist” remarks aside, outstanding work by the officers in handling this situation.
“Police here said today they still do not know why […]” he clearly say “kill me” so yeah…. suicide by cop.
and thats not 37 rounds.
+1
Looks like he said it after getting gut shot so that might not have been his first intention or at least at that scene.
Gabe Suarez and James Yeager, both appealing to the low end of the market. Too bad he didn’t get a chance to blow himself up using the ‘improvised’ manuals he had. Look for the call to ban assault books next.
Unless they put out DVDs with a badly photocopied black and white covers, those look like pirated copies of their movies.
Wait a minute? If trained police officers need 54 shots to take down an armed assailant, how is a law abiding citizen in New York supposed to defend themselves with 7shots?
It’s almost as if they lied to people when they said you don’t NEED more than 7 shots.
Better yet, if NYPD with their 6% hit ratio (whenever they engage bad guys…or innocents), what more of a need would slackers who aren’t ‘trained’ professionals have to carry standard mags and more of them??
NYPD never shoots for practice and they have 12lb triggers or something ridiculous thanks to King Mike. This does not account for the insane hypocrisy of the left but it is a major handicap (both self-inflicted and not). Most armed engagements are well north of 30 rounds. The shoot out in Boston with the Tsarnaev clowns was reportedly over 200 rounds and it took Tamerlan’s bro running him over to kill the shitbag.
I keep my P30L in my glovebox with two extra mags and I still feel under-armed.
This could have been solved if the cops just fired two warning shots into the air with a double barreled shotgun.
Words of wisdom.
are you serious? a guy gets out of his vehicle firing a AK and you think they should have shot into the air with a double-barreled shotgun? at what point do you think the officers should have done that?
Well that is how Biden suggested handling such things, or didn’t you hear that?
I’m sorry but a two way range is something very different than you sitting and plinking at a piece of paper that does all of flutter in the wind. The adrenaline dump that occurs in a situation like that is going to affect you, and well sorry to tell you this but not everyone is dead-balls on with their shots when taking fire or having someone push your position.
There were a few things poorly done by the two LEOs in this, but no firefight or situation like this is ever perfect. If it took them 54 shots to knock down this guy so be it, you debrief and go over what happened and what they did wrong and adjust your training accordingly.
How about you drop your “holier than thou” (there’s a pun in there somewhere) attitude for a minute and watch that video again and recognize the situation, recognize the response, and then recognize the result. Then say something like “wow I’m glad the LEO’s were OK” or something positive.
Yeah I’m sorry a 7 round limit passed, but get off your high horse and show a little respect to the good guys who have to deal with things like this and then at the same time maintain a calm professional attitude when some douchebag is screaming at them for them pulling him over while speeding and texting on a phone.
I see your point. But the guy was just reiterating the dangerous hypocrisy of the pols saying, “Well, X number is plenty for you to protect your family.” Especially when police and other security for officials often utilize PDW’s like the P-90 and genuine M-4 select fire rifles.I think everyone should move more to IDPA type shooting and force on force training so people learn how to improve their ability to effectively shoot while moving to or behind cover. The only thing range lanes and paper targets are good for are for learning basics, manipulation, and zeroing.
I didn’t read into Bubba’s post implying that marksmanship of the officers involved was questionable but rather the incident demonstrated the need for the firepower provided by standard capacity magazines to deal with bad guys.
Did it sound like they didn’t or at least the woman cop have a portable radio on them/her. Big kuddos to the civ who came up to help. Wonder if he came from a store/house with his gun or was a cwp ?
meant kudos
“Kill me!” Well, OK then, your call, boomboomboomboomboomboom………..
Got to love a story with a happy ending. :)
yeah, he needed a few more.
Those damned 37 round magazines!
Boy, he was really pissed off with “the man” (aka: Big Brother).
I’d say he spent too much time reading InfoWars.com
Anyone notice the disturbing new trend in law enforcement? They’re now describing violent criminals as “Domestic Terrorists.” Anyone notice how all these local police are purchasing $250,000+/- armored personnel carriers? Why do small towns like Sunapee, NH, Keene, NH and Concord, NH need an armored personnel carrier? Can anyone tell me when they had a riot in Sunapee, NH?
No one knows who the cops are anymore. they used to walk beats and we all knew who they were. Now, they just ride around in $75,000 cars. Now, they’re trained to think in terms of “us v them.” No longer is it “we” as in society at large. Yes, I believe we are becoming a “police state.”
It’s a new day, not a “Police State.” Do you get stopped at every turn to identify yourself? Have you or your friends been “rounded-up” to be placed in a camp? Doubt it… Get back on your knoll, and continue blogging conspiracy theories.
Cops don’t “Walk beats” anymore for a number of reasons. First off, the numbers are down and they’re responsible for much larger beats. They are often too busy responding to calls within this beat (or at the station filing these reports). They are responding to community requests for more “Police presence” in all areas of this beat. Etc.
I’d suggest attending a community-meeting hosted by your local Department. You can raise these concerns of yours, and probably meet the Officers assigned to your “beat.” Might even learn something about the Policing-process.
You should look around you a bit closer. It’s almost routine, if not already, to have police confront citizens to ID themselves , asking for papers, with absolutely no cause to think they’ve committed a crime. Often being either ignorant of the laws they’re supposed to be upholding or just blatantly manipulating said laws (like selectively applying wire-tap statutes, they can record you in public but you can’t record them). And by the time the constituents of other countries like Germany and China realized they were going to be “rounded-up” it was too late for them to do anything constructive about it. Also, our founders went to war with the crown for less egregious insults to our liberties than many Americans suffer today.
Put some ice in your cool-aid; you’ll enjoy it more.
Suburbs.
Walking a beat is fine in a dense urban area with patrol car back-up. And you are right, patrol officers are too busy responding to calls to patrol a route, zone, or district.
Without the gun industry craziness of today..
If someone could bring to market in the US a new, american made stamped AK-47 for $500, would it sell?
Yeah probably. But good luck. You plan on making the entire gun in house?
No way in hell you could come even close to that number for -ANY- US made firearm that is 100% metal with wood furniture, especially not an AK. Machining the front trunnion alone is a bitch that would take at least three setups with several tool changes, and would require specially made tooling to make several of the cuts.
Now maybe it could be done if you’re recycling parts from old AK’s, but with the BATFE rules on import getting stricter every year, and most of the AK’s on the market having been spoken for by other manufacturers trying to do what you are, you’re pretty much S-O-L.
But yeah, i’ll take one of those $500 ak’s any day of the week, and there are probably hundreds more out there.
Io makes one for 550, i have one, doubt yo could get it for that price now though
We should blanket every state and federal debate/ hearing with this video to show how utterly stupid and dangerous these stinking politicians weapon and mag restrictions truly are. If the count was accurate both police officers had gone through at least 2 to 3 magazines each depending on the model of their firearms. In NC a couple of our congressmen have tried introducing a 10 round max. That would mean citizens would have to try and do 5 mag changes in a situation like that. Stuff like this is why I’ve been training more to make consistent head shots on targets within a few yards whenever I can get to my local IDPA league. I don’t really care about my scores, just about hitting as close to the rectangle as I can as fast as I can.
From the title i thought he jumped on the hood of the cruiser and took a deuce.
I bet the cops weren’t saying “I’m so glad I had short mags.”
Looks like a suicide by cop/yolo moment to me. Shame he had to be cowardly enough to try and take someone else with him if indeed that is what it was.
Suicide by cop seems right but his reading suggests he wanted to win.
He sure had a lot of high-speed literature for a guy who jumps out and sprays from the hip. anyone else find this odd?
2 things.. Reading and doing arent the same thing, and if it truly was suicide by cop… he probably did not intend on actually hitting them . Just enough to scare them into doing what he was too chickenshit to do himself.
This vid really demonstrates how weak handgun rounds are. He was hit multiple times by what I am assuming is .40, and was kind of just ‘hangin out gettin shot’ until they really emptied into him, and I guess hit a vital. In regards to the caliber wars, how much more effective would .45 acp have been?
How much less effective would 9mm have been?
I’m wondering if you average cruiser still carries a 12 ga.? Had the partner opened up on him with that, he probably would have spun the guy or knocked him on his ass with 1 or two rounds. I guess when you’re adrenalized/terrified, etc. you reach for what’s closest/easiest, which would have been service pistols.
I’d be interested to know what they were shooting as well, but it’s not all that important a point. We saw in the North Hollywood Robbery Shootout that those two guys had body armor AND took rounds to their bodies and appendages. They were on adrenaline (and whatever else), and it took an overload of different rounds to take them down.
Most departments are teaching the “Mozambique failure drill” (two to the body, and one to the head before re-assessing), but that can be difficult in a stressful situation with a moving/dodging target.
In our car, we have a 12GA shotgun and also at least one AR in racks (loaded and ready to go), but I hope nobody would jump into the car to get them during the exchange unless out of handgun ammo. It’s surprising when someone jumps out of their car and starts shooting at you.
I know this is an older post but I hadn’t seen anyone post a link to the pictures of the police car afterwards so here ya go.
Windshield:
http://media2.newsnet5.com//photo/2013/05/03/6pm__Middlefield_police_involved_shootin_546090002_20130503180953_640_480.JPG
Car:
http://media2.newsnet5.com//photo/2013/05/03/6pm__Middlefield_police_involved_shootin_546090001_20130503180949_640_480.JPG
Thanks Anthony.
Anytime anyone can fill in details that are total BS it is always appreciated.