This is a follow up of the thread on the shooting at "Why Did He Shoot Me?" FBI Shoots Eagle Scout [url]http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?id=98105[/url]
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[img]http://www.sunspot.net/media/thumbnails/photo/2002-03/2203903.jpg[/img]
FBI apologizes in shooting of man mistaken for robber

[url]http://www.sunspot.net/news/custom/guns/bal-te.ar.shoot07mar07.story?coll=bal%2Dhome%2Dheadlines[/url]

FBI apologizes in shooting of man mistaken for robber
Top Baltimore agent pledges investigation
By Gail Gibson and Laura Barnhardt
Sun Staff

March 7, 2002

Baltimore's top FBI agent made an unusual public apology yesterday for the
shooting Friday of an unarmed Pasadena man whom federal agents had mistakenly
identified as a bank robbery suspect. But she refused to discuss the incident in
detail, saying that could jeopardize open investigations.

"Let me express our sincere sorrow for this unfortunate accident," said Lynne A.
Hunt, special agent in charge of the FBI's local office. "I want this community
to know we will do everything necessary to complete a full investigation of the
facts."

While FBI and Anne Arundel County police officials remained tight-lipped about
the shooting, law enforcement sources said the mix-up might have begun when FBI
agents lost contact with an informant who was using a cell phone to guide them
to the robbery suspect's car, a red sedan.

The informant's cell phone lost power, leaving agents without updates while the
informant looked for a pay phone, the sources said.

FBI and local police officials would not confirm or comment on that account. In
the FBI's first extensive comments about the shooting of Joseph Charles Schultz,
Hunt said only that the red Pontiac Grand Am in which Schultz and his girlfriend
were riding was similar to the one a robbery suspect was reported to be driving.

She also said the couple had "similar characteristics" to the suspect and his
female companion that day.

Hunt, who has headed the local 200-agent office for nearly two years, would not
release other details about events that led to Friday's shooting.

Schultz, 20, was hit in the face by a single bullet from an M-4 assault rifle.
Schultz, according to his lawyer, was shot while reaching to unbuckle his seat
belt to comply with an FBI agent's order to get out of the car.

Schultz remained in serious but stable condition yesterday at Maryland Shock
Trauma Center, awaiting reconstructive surgery to repair damage to his shattered
right cheek and jaw and to his nasal passages.

His girlfriend, 16-year-old Krissy Harkum of Pasadena, was not wounded in the
incident.

The FBI's comments came as the agency faced increasing pressure to fully account
for the shooting. In Washington, a top Republican on the Senate Judiciary
Committee said in a statement to The Sun that the incident "raises a lot of
questions that the FBI is going to have to answer publicly."

-- continued --

"I'll monitor not only what happened in the shooting, but also the way the FBI
investigates one of its own in this situation, so that past mistakes don't
recur," said Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, one of the agency's toughest
watchdogs.

An uncle of Schultz, Willis Shelley of Pasadena, said the family also is closely
watching the case.

"I think [the agents] are thinking they're going to walk on this one, and I'm
hoping they don't," said Shelley. "Joe's a nice kid - he's one of those people
you'd always root for."

Shopping trip

Schultz and Harkum were returning from an afternoon shopping trip when federal
agents in plain clothes and an unmarked car stopped the Pontiac she was driving.
Joseph C. Asesnio, an attorney for the Schultz family, has said two agents
approached the car on both sides, each carrying a rifle.

Shootings by FBI agents are relatively rare. In 2001, there were only 11
intentional shootings nationwide, and three of those involved dogs. Hunt said
that did not mean the agency would brush off Friday's incident.

"Let me assure you, this is not something we take lightly," Hunt said as a
number of grim-faced agents watched her news conference from the back of a room
at the agency's office in Woodlawn.

The agent who fired at Schultz has been voluntarily placed on administrative
leave, with pay, Hunt said. Three other agents involved in the stop had no
change in their assignments, she said.

FBI officials have refused to release the agents' names, citing an internal
policy that strictly guards agents' identities in shooting incidents, in part to
protect them from possible retaliation.

Hunt said releasing details about the shooting could taint continuing
investigations by an independent FBI review team and by Anne Arundel police and
prosecutors.

County to investigate

Yesterday, county Police Chief P. Thomas Shanahan promised an independent
investigation of the shooting and said its outcome would not be influenced by
pressure from the FBI. The review, led by two homicide detectives, is expected
to be completed within 30 days.

Kristin Riggin, a spokeswoman for the Arundel prosecutor's office, said that as
in all police shooting investigations, prosecutors must first determine if a
crime occurred and whether the case should be presented to a grand jury.

The state's attorney also can determine that a police shooting was accidental or
justified, and that no crime occurred, without taking the case to a grand jury.

-- continued --

The FBI's review will be forwarded to the Justice Department's civil rights
division, which also determines whether charges should be brought. Among the
details the federal probe will consider is whether the agents involved in the
shooting followed Justice Department guidelines for the use of deadly force - a
policy adopted in 1995 after sharp criticism of the FBI's fatal 1992 standoff
with white supremacist Randy Weaver in Ruby Ridge, Idaho.

Under that policy, federal law enforcement agents may use deadly force only when
they have "reasonable" belief that there is an "imminent danger of death or
serious physical injury" to agents or other people.

The policy also states that deadly force "may not be used if an alternative
reasonably appears to be sufficient to accomplish the law enforcement purpose."

FBI agents are trained to shoot to kill, not to wound or disable a fleeing
felon. Under the deadly force policy, agents also are specifically instructed
not to fire warning shots or to fire weapons at moving vehicles.

Hunt said yesterday that one of the agents on the scene was a trained medical
technician, who began administering first aid to Schultz immediately after the
shooting - countering concerns raised by Shelley and other family members that
Schultz and Harkum were thrown to the ground and refused medical treatment for
as long as 40 minutes.

According to county 911 dispatch records, the Fire Department was called to
respond to the shooting at 6:12 p.m., and the first units arrived by 6:15 p.m.
Paramedics arrived two minutes later.

By 6:22 p.m., paramedics had finished their assessment and called for a
helicopter to transport Schultz to the shock trauma center.

The paramedics were en route to the trauma unit by 6:53, according to the
records.

The shooting has raised some concerns for county police. Shanahan hopes the
police and FBI will review procedures for using marked patrol cars to back up
plain-clothes agents on traffic stops. He said Friday's stop using an unmarked
car did not violate protocol, but added, "Using a marked car and an officer in
uniform is a clear symbol of authority. Sometimes people don't know for sure if
they're being stopped by an officer."

Shanahan said his department also is looking into the notification process used
by the FBI on Sunday night, when county police apprehended Michael J.
Blottenberger Jr. of Baltimore, the suspect in the Feb. 20 robbery of an
Allfirst Bank branch.

Police said FBI agents, following Blottenberger in an unmarked car Sunday night,
identified themselves only after county officers began moving to stop him.

Although the FBI is not required to inform local jurisdictions of its
operations, Shanahan said the department is examining whether there could have
been a better notification process.

-- continued --

"Often our desire to protect the public overlaps," he said. "They're trying to
catch bank robbers. We're trying to catch bank robbers."

Sun staff writer Andrea F. Siegel contributed to this article.

Copyright © 2002, The Baltimore Sun

Who's taking bets on whether the shooter gets off completely free or not?

Look at one of the unrelated side articles on that page.  Good news in court.  Here's the link [url]http://www.sunspot.net/news/custom/guns/bal-ar.gun07mar07.story?coll=bal%2Dcrime%2Dheadlines[/url]

[i]
Shootings by FBI agents are relatively rare. In 2001, there were only 11
intentional shootings nationwide, and three of those involved dogs. Hunt said
that did not mean the agency would brush off Friday's incident.
[/i]

Anyone want to calculate their error rate, at only 11 shootings per year?

Group hug!!! [BD]

A spokeswoman for the FBI also promised a complete investigation
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[url]http://www.sunspot.net/news/custom/guns/bal-fbi0307.photo?coll=bal%2Dhome%2Dheadlines[/url]
Mistaken identity: Lynne A. Hunt, special agent in charge of the FBI's Baltimore office, promises a full investigation of the incident

No Bet...[IMG]http://www.grillsportverein.de/smilies/contrib/corky/smilies23.gif[/IMG]

"Administrative Leave" aka, "Vacation With Pay" while the "investigation" aka,"How can we cover this up?" continues.

[IMG]http://216.40.201.155/s/contrib/aahmed/sad.gif[/IMG]

I think the FBI should give the M4 that was used in the shooting to the victim as a consolation prize, along with paperwork making it legal.
Plus a few million bucks for the trouble, of course.   And the badge of the agent who shot him, and his car, his house, his wife...well, depending on what she looks like...


I've got to ask...what's with these smilies that show up that aren't in the legend?  

CJ

I forsee a promotion and a marksmanship decoration. Possible appointment to the Lon Hourinuchi Tactical Safety Squad.

[b]"Let me assure you, this is not something we take lightly," Hunt said [/b]

...and Janet Reno axccepted full responsibility for Waco. Did it change anything?

as opposed to UNintentional shootings?

How many [b]un[/b]intentional shootings?

Av.

Edit: drat! Lurker beat me to it.

Just imagine if the trigger-happy FBI agent killed the guy.

Either way, it will be business as usual. The feds are never guilty of anything. Just ask them.

Maybe with John Ashcroft as the AG the FBI will actually be forced to do a real investigation?

Under Janet Reno another gallon of whitewash would have simply been used.

Why do these clowns always get PAID leave after they seriously foul up?  I bet us taxpayers spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on training for these guys.  For what?

Let alone the fact that the agent gets his identity concealed to prevent retaliation.  The victims' name is all over the paper.  Where is his privacy?

Where are the apologists today?  Still can't defend that which is indefensible?

Remember, one of the jobs of any gov't. is to protect itself, ie., ensure its own survival.

It seems that over time, this is the one overriding principle that gov't. adheres to.

Any goverment.

I wonder if you drive a wooden stake thru its heart will it die?

Lonnie sure gets around!

[img]http://www.zpub.com/notes/horiuchi2.gif[/img]

People find them elsewhere on the net and bring them in using an [ IMG ] tag.

For example,
http://www.grillsportverein.de/smilies/contrib/corky/smilies23.gif
is the URL for [img]http://www.grillsportverein.de/smilies/contrib/corky/smilies23.gif[/img]

So how did we find out Horiuchi's name?

Maybe if these peckerwoods did have to worry about their names being released after shooting someone, the threat of retaliation would moderate their urges to shoot someone.