# What a situation...



## Tgace (Jun 9, 2004)

As I get all kinds of "officer safety" stuff via e-mail, I thought I'd share a few examples for discussion. Many are LEO related, but bring up some interesting "tactical" issues....Heres one.

Copyright 2004 Newspaper Group Inc.  
Long Beach Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA) June 5, 2004 Saturday
PT NEWS
857 words
Parolee is killed by LBPD officer;
Fatal shot ends close-quarters struggle with suspect at Wal-Mart.Wendy Thomas RussellStaff writer
LONG BEACH
A parolee detained for stealing electronics from a downtown Wal-Mart was shot to death Thursday during a "close-quarters, hand-to-hand battle" with two Long Beach police officers in a security office, a top LBPD official said Friday. 

Pietro Salvatore Giammona, 31, died of a single gunshot wound to the head about 10 p.m., after he tried to seize the gun of an arresting officer, said Robert Luna, the LBPD's deputy chief of investigations. 

"They were in a struggle for their lives," Luna said of the officers. 

The killing ... the LBPD's fourth officer-involved shooting this year ... occurred at a time when about 100 customers and 50 employees were milling about the store, which opened 19 months ago as a flagship of the new CityPlace development. 

The two officers ... a woman on the job for four years, and a man with 11 years experience ... were called to the store at Fifth Street and Long Beach Boulevard to take a shoplifting suspect to jail shortly before 9:30 p.m., Luna said. 

But by the time they arrived at the store, the situation had become turbulent. 

Instead of allowing a security guard to quietly escort him inside the store's security office ... as is the case in most shoplifting cases ... Giammona was yelling, fighting and threatening the guard and other store employees, officials and witnesses said. 

"He kept saying he had a knife," recalled one witness, a 17-year-old sales associate named Ken Brooks. "I thought he was on drugs or something, the way he was acting." 

Police said they weren't sure what accounted for Giammona's combative behavior. Giammona had been in and out of prison for the last four years ... for convictions involving burglary, possession of a controlled substance and possessing a weapon, according to California Department of Corrections records. 

He was paroled March 24, and the Wal-Mart theft would likely have landed him back in prison. 

Once he was handcuffed to a bench inside the cramped security office, Giammona continued to yell, struggle and bang on the wall, witnesses said. 

The officers arrived and, during a pat-down, found a makeshift knife fastened from a razor blade and tape, like those often made in jails and prisons in prison, Luna said. Aware of his criminal history, the officers also noticed that Giammona was "displaying typical diversionary [escape] tactics practiced by inmates in correctional facilities,"the deputy chief said. 

Giammona ignored basic commands ... to stand up and face the wall, for instance ... and then tried to get officers to approach him in a way that would give him the upper hand, Luna said. Giammona allegedly asked the officers to take off his shoe ... a common method used to get officers in a position to be kicked in the face, Luna said. 

"The officers, obviously, are kind of hip to it." he said. "They aren't fulfilling his requests, but they actually are becoming more disturbed by his behavior." 

Eventually, as officers readied Giammona to put LBPD-issued handcuffs on his wrists, they noticed the man had begun to loosen his hand from the store's cuffs, said Officer Greg Schirmer, an LBPD spokesman. 

A struggle began, Schirmer said, and Giammona managed to slip one hand free of the cuffs. 

"Both officers are trying to control him," Luna added. "There was a huge fight. There was what I can only described as a close-quarters, hand-to-hand battle between the two officers and the suspect." 

Giammona, Luna said, appeared to be "getting the best of the police officers." 

Then, Giammona slid his hand around the 11-year veteran and managed to unsnap his holster. 

"The officer hears that unsnapping noise and starts yelling, 'He's got my gun! He's going to get my gun! He's going to get my gun!"' Luna said. 

Moments later, as the wrestling continued, the female officer shot Giammona once in the head at close range, officials said. 

Customers and employees heard the crack of gunfire and scattered. 

"Everyone jumped to the floor and started running for the door," Brooks said. 

But the commotion was over. Giammona was dead. 

Both officers were placed on paid administrative leave for three days, and the Los Angeles County district attorney's office has opened an investigation, Schirmer said. 

A surveillance camera, which caught the shooting on tape, will undoubtedly provide an unusually high level of detail to the shooting's reconstruction. Schirmer said the footage has been confiscated. 

Rick Costa, general manager of the downtown Wal-Mart, said Friday he didn't know what kind of impact Giammona's death would have on the store, if any, but he was optimistic. 

Eyeing a steady stream of customers comecoming through the door Friday afternoon, he said: "I'm watching people and getting reaction from them. Most of the them are inquisitive, but people are still really positive about everything ... and understanding." 

Schirmer said he was confident that the shooting would have no long-term impact. 

"We consider this an isolated incident," he said. "We haven't had any problems like this ever at this location, and we believe this to be a safe place for [shoppers] to go." 
June 6, 2004


----------



## Flatlander (Jun 9, 2004)

Two things: 

1) Good Shot!

2) I hope the officers are not poorly treated.  This is a very stressful event for officers to go through.


----------



## Spud (Jun 9, 2004)

Damn, that could have been ugly. Kind of morbid, but I hope the tape provides good training for LEO's. That's powerful and brings home the reality of an cop's job.


----------



## Tgace (Jun 9, 2004)

Goes to show, that against a struggling oppponent that you have to restrain, not just beat into submission, even 2 on 1 is exremely tough. I probably would have OC'd him as he was trying to slip his cuffs. At least try to disadvantage him.


----------



## shesulsa (Jun 9, 2004)

Agreed, guys.


----------



## 8253 (Jun 9, 2004)

sounds like a good shoot to me.


----------

