Concealed Carry Class, Just Got Back

Interesting read on stress during a life threatening situation. I've heard a lot of this before during my training. Interestingly enough your hearing will go first in most cases of a life threatening attack. This is due to your fight of flight defense the body has. I will not bore you with the physiology aspect as to why.

The following are actual case histories of police officers who discharged their weapons during the line of duty but have no memory of having done so:

Three patrol cars blocked in the car of suspect they were attempting to apprehend. The suspect began to ram the vehicles, presenting a deadly threat to some of the officers on the scene. Three officers opened fire on the suspect. The suspect jumped out of his vehicle, refused to show his hands, and continued to behave in suspicious manner. The officers continued to fire until the suspect gave up. He was taken into custody with minor injuries. A sergeant was standing in the vicinity of the three officers who initially opened fire. When the homicide detectives arrived the three officers who fired reported discharging their weapons. The sergeant did not report firing his weapon nor did any of the officers report hearing the sergeant’s weapon go off. After providing a brief description of his involvement in the incident, the sergeant went home and performed his cursory daily wipe down of his weapon then went to sleep. The next day he was called in by the detectives to explore the possibility that he had fired his weapon at the scene. The sergeant reported no recollection of firing his weapon but conceded it was, of course, possible. It became apparent that the detectives had obtained physical evidence indicating that the sergeant had indeed discharged his weapon. They did not believe the sergeant could not remember having done so and immediately suspected him of untruthfulness. They were further bothered by the fact that the sergeant admitted wiping down his gun and believed this was part of his cover-up. The sergeant was placed on administrative leave and within a week received a notice of intent to terminate letter based on the allegations that he had been untruthful and had attempted to cover up firing his weapon. His association informed the police department they intended to file legal action on the sergeant’s behalf for unlawful termination. A deal was truck to delay the sergeant’s termination and he was granted a stress-related medical retirement.



A deputy stopped a drunk driver as the driver was pulling into his home’s driveway. The driver got out and went inside his home. The deputy called for back-up and asked the driver to come outside. The driver refused, telling the deputy to come inside, which he did. The deputy found the driver sitting on a couch with a gun next to him. The deputy retreated, yelling for the driver to not touch the gun. Confused, the deputy wound up going into the basement. The driver followed, gun in hand. The deputy called for help and got out of the basement. The driver was found dead at the top of the stairs. The deputy swears he did not shoot, but it was later discovered the deputy had in fact fired four rounds. The deputy saw the muzzle flashes but thought they were coming from the driving shooting at him. The deputy was cleared but retired because of stress.

A male gangster was holding a couple in their 90's as hostages. A patrol sergeant shot the suspect along with two other officers. He remembers seeing a muzzle flash and thought it was the suspect firing at him. He was shocked to find out the suspect had not actually shot at him. It was really his own muzzle flash that he saw. He had to look at his own magazine to see if he had really fired or not.

An officer stepped out of his squad car after pursuing an offender who spun out on a slick entrance ramp. As he stepped out he slipped and fired a round through the offender’s windshield. The round barely touched the offender’s neck. The officer insisted he did not have his finger on the trigger or consider shooting.

An officer shot a suspect twice with a shotgun to prevent him from entering a residence and taking a hostage. It was a justified shooting but the officer only remembers firing one of the two rounds. The shooting review board found one round “in policy” and one round “out of policy”. Their reasoning was that both rounds were justified, but since he couldn’t remember one of them, it must be out of policy.

There were two incidents in which officers fired unintentionally and did not immediately realize they had done so. But once their brains sorted out the incoming data (i.e., I’m bleeding, my gun is smoking, and there is no one else here) they realized what had happened.

An officer was involved in a shooting with another officer and suspect in which over 20 total rounds were fired. Immediately after the shooting she couldn’t remember if for sure if she had fired her weapon.. She remained unsure until around one hour later when she and her lieutenant checked her weapon and actually counted the rounds.


Additional cases are available in the research report written by Klinger (2001). His extensive interviews of 80 officers involved in 113 separate shootings revealed additional cases of officer who fired their weapons but did not realize they were doing so as it happened:




An officer was shot at close range by a suspect who then immediately fled the location. The suspect was captured nearby after losing a gun battle with the injured officer’s partner. It was discovered during the post-shooting investigation that the first officer had fired one round that struck the suspect during the initial confrontation in which he himself had been shot. However, the first officer had no recollection that he had fired his gun.

In one case the only reason an officer knew that he had fired four rounds is that he knew that he carried four rounds in his shotgun, which he emptied at the suspect. He did not recall firing four rounds, he just deduced from his empty shotgun he had done so.

In another case, an officer knew that he had fired his semi-automatic handgun only because when he looked down the frame to obtain a sight picture on an armed suspect he saw that the hammer was cocked back, which could only have happened if he had already fired.

Solomon (1997) reported two additional cases:

Two officers confront a suspect who takes one of them hostage. The suspect forces the hostage officer into the police car with the officer behind the wheel and orders him to drive off. As he turned on the ignition the other officer shot the suspect through the windshield. The next thing he remembers is helping the officer out of the car. The suspect is dead. The investigation revealed that the suspect was killed by shots fired through the drivers side window. However, the officer said he only fired through the windshield and did not know shots had been fired through the side window or who could have fired them. However, the hostage officer confirmed that the officer had in fact fired two shots through the side window after firing through the windshield. The officer had no recollection of going to the side of the car or firing his weapon there until six years later at a critical incident workshop.

Several officers were in pursuit of an armed suspect, when he crashed his car. As an officer approached the car the suspect got out, weapon in hand. The next thing the officer remembers is standing over the suspect who was fatally shot. Witnesses and physical evidence clearly show the officer shot the suspect. The officer, however, does not recall shooting him.

In addition to these on duty incidents, Trooper Mike Conti of the Massachusetts State Police Academy reported the following in a personal communication:




Have built a new firearms training program for Mass State Police; the “New Paradigm” we call it. Incorporated in the program is a Stress Inoculation Training program called the “House of Horror”. Over 2300 people trained so far, one at a time. Six minutes long. Eight stations where they must decide on what to do while operating with a pistol in their hands. True high arousal state induced 100% of the time. Physical and Psychological effects consistently observed. Documented memory gaps experienced by 85% to 90% of all who have participated. Not remembering what they did, if they shot at particular stations, etc. THIS IN TRAINING, never mind actual situation. Also tunnel vision, auditory exclusion, etc., experienced by all who participate.