[url]http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-md.fbi13mar13.story[/url]

Details unfold in FBI mix-up
Agents had photo of real suspect before shooting other man; Revealed
in affidavit; They also knew air pistol apparently was used in
robbery
By Gail Gibson
Sun Staff
Originally published March 13, 2002

FBI agents involved in the mistaken traffic stop and shooting of an
unarmed Pasadena man March 1 had a photograph of the actual bank
robbery suspect they sought and earlier that day had discovered that
an air pistol, not a handgun, apparently was used in the holdup,
court records show.

Those details, contained in an FBI affidavit in the bank robbery
case, could play a central role in the investigations into the
shooting of Joseph C. Schultz, as authorities examine how much
federal agents knew about the real suspect they were tracking and how
dangerous they thought he was.

Schultz, 20, was shot in the face with an M-4 rifle after FBI agents
stopped the car his girlfriend was driving that day. In a case of
mistaken identity, the agents thought Schultz was the man they
sought, but Schultz had no connection to the crime or to the suspect.
Schultz, who is expected to survive, remained in fair condition
yesterday at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

FBI and Anne Arundel County police officials have released few
details about the traffic stop and shooting, saying that could hurt
continuing federal and local investigations. But the FBI affidavit,
connected to the arrest March 3 of bank robbery suspect Michael J.
Blottenberger Jr., provides new information about the police search
that preceded the shooting.

An FBI spokesman declined yesterday to comment directly on the
affidavit, but suggested that whether or not a real semi-automatic
handgun was used in the robbery did not diminish the threat that
agents believed Blottenberger posed as they searched for him March 1.

"In general terms, anytime anyone robs a bank, and a gun is
displayed, they're considered armed and dangerous," said Special
Agent Peter A. Gulotta Jr., who said that in assessing how risky a
capture might be, agents also consider a suspect's criminal history.

(continued)

Blottenberger, 32, of Baltimore has a lengthy arrest record and had
been released from jail months before an anonymous caller told an
Anne Arundel County detective Feb. 26 that Blottenberger could be
connected to the robbery Feb. 20 of an Allfirst Bank branch on Fort
Smallwood Road in Pasadena, according to the FBI affidavit.

In the document, FBI Special Agent Lawrence S. Brosnan, a 24-year
veteran of the FBI and the lead investigator in the robbery case,
said two bank tellers reported that the robber brandished a silver-
and-black handgun that day as he forced them to empty their cash
drawers. Court records say the robber left with $24,324 clutched in
his fists and arms and climbed into a green Ford pickup.

Blottenberger is jailed on a federal bank robbery charge; no one else
has been charged in the case.

FBI officials have declined to release a photograph of Blottenberger.
The affidavit says Brosnan obtained a 1998 mug shot that he
displayed, along with bank surveillance photos, in interviews with
people who helped link Blottenberger to the crime.

Brosnan was among the agents looking for Blottenberger on March 1,
when Schultz was mistakenly stopped. Another FBI agent, Christopher
Braga, shot Schultz that day.

Among the individuals Brosnan interviewed in the days leading up to
the shooting was Blottenberger's landlord. Timothy King told
authorities March 1 that in a conversation shortly after midnight
that morning, Blottenberger said he had driven the getaway car in a
bank robbery -- a claim he also made to FBI agents after his arrest
nine days ago, the affidavit said.

King told authorities that he then ordered Blottenberger to leave his
house, the affidavit said. Soon after Blottenberger left, King and a
woman searched the house and found two silver air pistols, which
closely resembled semi-automatic handguns, tucked under a television
cabinet in the basement. An air gun relies on a compressed air system
to propel projectiles, such as pellets or paint balls, and is
generally considered far less lethal than a semi-automatic handgun.

A Baltimore police officer and Brosnan went to King's house that
morning -- hours before federal agents searching for Blottenberger
pulled over Schultz -- and seized the two pistols.

In the affidavit, Brosnan wrote that after comparing the air pistols
to the bank surveillance photos, he was "of the opinion that the
pistol displayed by the bank robber is similar, if not identical, to
the pistols discovered" at the house where Blottenberger had been
staying.
Copyright © 2002, The Baltimore Sun

Thank you.

No sarcasm, btw.

Juggernaut

They're playing out the script of "Police Academy XIII"  [rolleyes]

Our tax dollars at waste...

CMOS

i get the feeling that this is the type of thing that can expect to see more of......

"A Baltimore police officer and Brosnan went to King's house that morning -- hours before federal agents searching for Blottenberger pulled over Schultz -- and seized the two pistols."



DOH...!

You gotta love this kind of in-depth reporting...

wow, thanks for clearing that one up!

Reading between the lines, I bet Blottenberger looks nothing like Schultz.

Also, a web search for Michael J. Blottenberger turns up a result in here: [url]http://www.serve.com/mdvva/memorial/lists/baltimore_city.doc[/url] on page 21, what is a CAS date?  Maybe thats his dad or something.

Kharn

The paper failed to pursue the question of what was the suspicion for stopping the victim in the first place?  Wasn't he in a red/marron Pontiac?  Nothing like a green pick-up.

Also, if the air-guns were seized earlier in the day, that would seem to reduce the threat level at the later traffic stop.

If the perceived danger at a stop is high, then so is the chance that something could go wrong and shots might be exchanged.  All the more reason to be damn sure you don't have the wrong guy, huh?

How far would a non-LE citizen get with a defense of "I didn't really mean to shoot him, I was after someone else, and my gun went off"?

"I got scared and my finger twitched.  Oopsie."