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1961-1965…U.S.M.C. Corporal in the infantry. |
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"...No Worst Case Scenarios..."
August,
1976: George Copitas…I’ve been around guns of all types all my life. As
a Chief
Engineer for a Tuna Fleet, we’ve been in most ports world wide and the
periodic
trouble that goes with that profession. But, my closest call came here
in The store had a floor mat at the entrance that rang a bell when a customer stepped in. Right next to the floor was the ice cream freezer. That’s where I was…rearranging the ice cream. Suddenly, I felt a breeze; I turned around and saw him. He had jumped over the mat so it wouldn’t ring. He was wearing panty hose over his head, a watch cap, and a plaid shirt buttoned to the top. He had gloves on, and of course a gun leveled on me. It was Beretta. Author’s note: I’ve known George for years; he knows as much about guns as any man I’ve met…as a machinist too, he has made them from scratch. I’ve shot them. When he identifies a gun held on him in the middle of an armed robbery, he’s not wrong. I also know the homicide sergeant who supervised the case, Sergeant Kennedy. He said, ‘…that man is cool under fire…wish he was a cop…’. “Give me all the money or I’ll blow your f…. head off’. Those were his exact words, he used them a lot. Anyway, I was worried, real worried, but not yet frantic…because the hammer was down on the Beretta. In those days, Beretta’s were not double-action semi-autos. The hammer had to be cocked before the gun would be ready to fire. So, I knew I had a second or two. I tried to calm him down: ‘Hey, don’t worry, the money is insured, you’re gonna get it all.’ I had played out in my mind being robbed; I would simply give him the money, and he would walk out. Then, because I kept my gun behind the counter and under the register, I would simply get the gun in my hand and ready…when he neared the front door, I planned to simply then say with my gun in plain sight for him to see, ‘Okay, now drop the money and get the hell outta here or we’re gonna have a problem.’ I had even planned what I would say! I had it all planned; the register would be my cover, he’d be 15 feet away from me…I was ready! Of course, the plan in my mind was a perfect-for-me-scenario. The real thing that night went down quite differently. He motioned me with the Beretta to get behind the counter…and he stayed with me. ‘S…..’, I remember saying to myself, ‘he’s back here too, he’ll see my gun if I try to get it’. ‘Hurry up…put all the money in a bag and give it to me or I’ll blow your F….. head off’. He was getting nervous, motioning a lot with the gun that he was holding inches from my head. I got down on one knee and started pulling the money out, and activated the silent alarm while getting the cash. Next, he reached around behind me and took my wallet. I told him that I only keep credit cards in it. ‘Shut up or I’ll blow your F…. head off’, was his reply. Then, a customer walked in, I thought, ‘But of course’. The crook yelled at him, ‘You…get down on the floor…put your hands over your head…straight out…look straight down…don’t move’. The customer could have easily ducked right back out the door, but he froze. Then he hit the deck, fast. Getting the money together only took a few seconds, but it sure seemed like it took me forever. Finally, I had it all for him, and handed it to him. I was still on one knee, looking up at him…we were about three feet a part. His gun was still inches from my head. Then he cocked it. ‘S… he’s gonna shoot me anyway. I did exactly as he said, and the bastard is gonna kill me anyway’. I got scared, and mad. I knew what I had to do…get my hands on my gun. But, on my knees and reaching for it in the tight quarters he had me in…I didn’t feel a lot of hope. If it didn’t work, I knew it was over for me, and probably the customer too. People have told me that I made the right choice by trying, fighting back. The truth is, I didn’t really have a choice. ‘Distract him’. That thought raced through my mind. ‘Hey, wait a minute; we’ve got more money under the counter. You want it? It’s all insured.’ “Yeah, yeah, hurry up or I’ll blow you f… head off. I can see him to this day. I was still on one knee looking up at him, his gun inches from my face, pointed between my eyes, and cocked. I put my hand under the counter. I could feel my gun. Finally! I had a double-action Smith & Wesson, .38. Now, finally, I had a chance. Suddenly, I feel it again now, a cold, contempt, feeling of hatred for that bastard ran through me. I did what he told me, he cocked his gun; the SOB planned to shoot me anyway. I remember the thought so clearly, ‘He’s gonna execute me here kneeling in front of him.’ He was looking down at me, and over to the customer on the floor while at the same time trying to watch the door. He moved the gun slightly from my eyes toward my ear when he looked at the customer on the floor. I prayed. I remember what I said, ‘I hate to do this, Lord, I’m asking you, push that gun off my head once more. Then I’m gonna shoot him. Lord, please let it go right for me.’ At that instant, that SOB moved the gun a fraction off my head. I pulled the gun out from under the counter, rammed it into his gut, and emptied it into him from where I knelt. He let out a big expulsion of air and made a loud sound like, ‘Huh’. Then his hands, still holding his gun, went to his chest. Then he dropped his gun, spun around, and went down to the floor on his knees with his head held low. Things were rushing fast for me in the store, and in my mind. I first rushed to the phone, called the police, they were already on their way. Then I saw the customer still lying flat and spread-eagled, he was literally shaking head to foot like a leaf in the wind. I yelled to him, ‘Hey, it’s okay, I shot him. You can get up.’ He turned his head to look at me, groaned, and urinated on himself.’ It’s funny what you remember at times like that, I thought at that moment, ‘Poor guy, probably just came in for a six-pack’. I went back to the crook, ‘Damn…he’s not finished, his gun is right next to him, he’s still got a full load, he’s groaning, still alive, six of my rounds in his chest and stomach, he’s coughing up blood into the panty hose over his head, and he’s hanging on, S….’. I got scared all over again. I decided not to try and get his gun away from him…didn’t want my prints on it, nor did I want to try and kick it away from him, so I reloaded mine. Now what, I thought, ‘Should I shoot him again? What if he goes for his gun? S… this is not how I thought it would go down if it ever did’. Then another customer started to walk in…all this is happening in about 10 seconds…he saw the guy on the floor, and stopped. I yelled to him, ‘Stay out, we just had a shooting’. This customer, a complete idiot, said, ‘Man! I just need some Certs’. ‘Get outta here’, I yelled back. He repeated it with a, ‘please’! I couldn’t believe it. I threw him a package of Certs. The idiot flipped me back a quarter. Thank the Lord, the police showed up…from all directions. The first officer in the store, when he saw my gun, drew on me. I dropped it to the counter saying, ‘No, No, him’, pointing to the body the officer couldn’t see from where he was. I‘ll never forget my last look at him, blood coming from his back, his gut, chest and mouth. The panty hose was still pulled over his head and face. By that time, however, I think he was already dead I didn’t get a chance to talk to the customer on the floor, he was with police. What George has changed: I had a plan alright, but all parts of it were based on circumstances entirely favorable to me. In hindsight, I had a lot of wishful optimism and no worst case scenarios. What this case reinforced for George: About halfway through the ordeal, I woke up. I realized that it was up to me to survive this…that counting on his goodwill to not shoot me was hopeless. Finally, feeling contempt and hate for a man who was threatening to kill me got me moving. For Training: Worst case scenarios that you might face are crucial to planning no matter how slight the chances of their occurring. And, not planning “against them” are the biggest failures in most survival planning. I recall an unrelated training scenario with a producer planning for a child abduction training piece to be aired on Good Morning America. The show had selected me to host the training. The producer then hired two actors to be the child molesters, and each to convince a child in two separately filmed incidents to leave the playground with the actor-abductors…all of this on video camera from a hidden location. I convinced the producer to allow me to train for 30 minutes the actors in “how real molesters succeed” based on past cases. Worked easily I still recall the filming crews response; men and women in gasping shock…some in tears...one close to me watching on a monitor from a hidden spot said, ‘I have children that age, I’m so afraid for them, they’re so easily tricked be those kind of people.’ The entire crew was upset. But, that worst case scenario part of the show was crucial to the second part, filming the solutions for parents. In the movie, “ END A Close One Between Two Cops & Two Crossfire Bullets Jack Pearson and I were in his car talking. It was Steve and I took the rear, Sgt. Pearson took the front. Officer Ziegler rolled in within seconds, and covered Steve & I in the rear. Sgt. Pearson advised on the radio, ‘…two inside…I see them now…’. In the back, we had one door only that had to be covered. We had ‘em trapped. Ziegler took a position on the right of the door as you face it, I was on the left. Steve was next to me and behind me. Guns out for the three of us, I opened the door. Ziegler stepped aside a little and pushed the door against the building. Under 10 seconds to get here, another 5 seconds, we were in position and ready. Doesn’t always happen that fast. We could hear them moving around inside. I shouted in to them with commands to this effect: ‘…you’re surrounded, then what they were to do with their weapons, then how to hold their hands, then how to one at a time approach the rear door, then how to exit, and finally, how to go to the ground spread-eagle…all of that included what we would do if at any point they moved too quickly…’. Nothing; no talking between them, no answers to us, no sound of movement, just silence …at least 10 seconds of nothing. Suddenly, running footsteps…5-6 hard-placed steps onto an old wooden floor and sounding like…headed to our position…our opened doorway. Neither Ziegler nor I pushed our head into the opened doorway…no time to get a look at what was coming at us. Like a sudden explosion of fire, smoke and cannon-shot from an old style cannon on wheels, one of the burglars thrust out and through the opened doorway. The man was literally airborne. Ziegler fired once…maybe one-tenth of a second before I fired. Each of us fired one round. Almost in slow motion (I can still see him), the man’s body twisted slightly toward me in mid-air, and seemed to slump in an arched-back position toward the ground. When he hit, dust flew up…he landed like a heavy throw rug…spread eagle style and no movement except…as instantly as he hit the ground, he threw up into the dust a large amount of whatever had been in his stomach. Guns still on him, but our attention was back on our doorway. There is still at least one more inside. I grabbed my walkie-talkie and advised this…verbatim; “…we have one at the back door…he’s mortally wounded…”. True, “mortally wounded “ is a stupid statement, and I’ve already taken merciless kidding for it. Then I noticed, I had brains and blood all over my upper body including my gun hand, my hat…even my face. As the years went by being a cop, I learned that all large caliber gunshots into the head, self-inflicted or cop vs. robber gunfights, will cause a humans head to explode out. Next, a voice from inside, ‘…I don’t have any kind of weapon, I’ll walk out slowly…please don’t shoot…’. He did just that and obeyed instantly every command given to him. He looked over toward his partners body once. Time was now about one minute past “our shooting”. Additional units were arriving, and Sergeant Pearson had left the front and was with us at the back door. Officer Ziegler volunteered, “I got him”. I was kinda surprised…since it was his second or third shooting in a couple of years. Sgt. Pearson immediately interviewed both Zeigler and I separately. We both submitted reports. For The record: the crook was dead, he had an extensive criminal record. His partner cooperated in every possible manner he could, it was as if he had a sudden conversion to truth and respect for police officers. I was never informed whether or not two rounds passed through the crooks head, or only one. What we do know is; we both fired within a tenth of a second of one another, and both shots were from the hip, and that one-third of the crooks head had a massive and gaping hole. In those days, police departments did not automatically place officers on Administrative Leave simply because they had been in a shooting. We were cops, expected to deal with all facets of the job and continue working…simple as that. Following the first shooting I was in (gun take away attempt resulting in my wounding the crook) and after I talked with Homicide about the details, I was instructed to change my uniform and get back to work. The policy worked well. I don’t recall any of us losing ourselves in grief because we got back to work right away. Ziegler was in another shooting about a month later and offered two options…he chose to resign. For Training: It is probable that my shot was a “response shot” to officer Ziegler’s shot…both of us with guns on the same man and both of us at the same distance…4-5 feet. The training method generally employed to lessen the chance of unintended response shots are; fingers off the trigger and do not cock the pistol when revolvers are used. Beyond that training, response shots are controlled solely through total concentration on your particular role only. And, of course, double-digit years of experience at shooting scenes helps a cop to control his every move.
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