Recently I started reading “Into the Kill Zone" A Cop’s eye view of Deadly Force” It’s a fascinating book. I wanted to develop empathy for what police officers face daily.
The media is treating cops like crap right now because of the death of George Floyd.
In this book, police officers share their real-life stories of when they have used deadly force on the job. A cop was on patrol and saw a man standing over a woman with a giant knife getting ready to plunge it into her chest. The officer ran at the psycho and hit him in the back of the neck with his baton. The enraged man got up and rushed the cop, slicing his bicep open with the butcher knife.
This is what happened next in the cop’s own words.
"As soon as the knife hit, I took a couple of steps back to put some distance between the guy and me. I drew my gun. The guy was faceup on me about five or six feet away. I didn’t want to be cut again, so just as soon as I cleared leather. I fired my first round from the hip. It took him in the lower abdomen.
He was still standing there, So I decided to shoot him in the head because the first shot hadn’t dropped him, and I didn’t want him to slash me again.
I brought my gun up, found my sight picture, put it square on his face, and popped him between the eyes with my second round. I squeezed it off just as soon as I got that sight picture on his face. So it was real quick-clear leather and boom first round to the gut, then continued up with the gun and boom second round to the head. Caught him right on his nose. Then he was down."
Since you probably carry a gun, if you’re reading this, Let’s look at his shot sequence.
His first shot was from the hip, and he could not see his sights. His bullet hit the killer in the abdomen. Most firearms instructors say you need to see your front sight before you pull the trigger, but that is not true.
To deliver the kill shot, he brought his gun up and got a perfect sight picture on the man’s head and squeezed off the shot. Some people believe if you ever have to use your weapon in real life, then you won’t use your sights, but this police officer did.
The draw stroke I teach students will stop a threat at arm’s length or 30 feet away. You do not need to make any changes to your technique based on distance. Incidents like this show why it is important.