Contagious shooting

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A contagious shooting is a sociological phenomenon observed in police personnel, in which one person firing on a target can induce others to begin shooting without knowing why they are firing. The term may have been coined, but certainly rose to prominence in public discourse in the aftermath of the killing of Amadou Diallo by the NYPD in 1999. [1] [2] [3]

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Besides the above examples, the phenomenon has been observed in other contexts. A former CIA employee and FBI firearms instructor observed it in training. "Consistently, in every class, officers would shoot at their target upon hearing others shoot, even when their particular target board did not contain the called target." [21] He suggests that one reason it occurs is because of muscle memory: "[T]he targets turn, or the whistle blows, and all the officers shoot together until a cease-fire signal is given."

Law professor Eugene O'Donnell was once quoted describing the notion as "debatable" [7] although in the same interview he agreed with its existence, saying that in classic cases involving contagious shooting, "a gun was shot before any officers fired", and thus "the officers involved began shooting because of fear or because of the sound of a colleague firing". [7]

See also

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References

  1. Michael Wilson (November 27, 2006). "50 Shots Fired, and the Experts Offer a Theory". The New York Times .
  2. 1 2 Gardiner, Sean (December 5, 2006). "Guns Gone Wild; NYPD gunfire goes up while crime goes down. What gives?". Village Voice. Archived from the original on September 26, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-25. The phrase NYPD officials have been using to describe why five officers would then shoot 49 more bullets into a car without anyone shooting back is "contagious fire": cops shooting because their partners are. It's what happened on the night of February 4, 1999, in the Bronx, when police officers assigned to an anti-gun squad struck Amadou Diallo with 19 of the 41 shots they fired.
  3. Layton, Julia (28 November 2006). "Can "contagious shooting" explain what happened in New York this weekend?". How Stuff Works . Retrieved 2007-09-25. Some experts are calling the most recent incident in Queens an example of "contagious shooting," which might at least partially explain many other examples of apparent over-firing. The phenomenon seems to be a combination of reflex, panic and trust. In an article in the Baltimore Sun, law-enforcement consultant Edward Mamet explains, "If one fires, the rest fire ... People start shooting; they don't even know why."
  4. Michael Winter (23 Apr 2013). "2 women hurt during L.A. manhunt to receive $4.2M". USA Today. Retrieved 28 Apr 2013.
  5. "Empire State Building shooting leaves 2 dead, 9 injured". Daily News. New York.
  6. "Police Gunmen Open Fire On South". Miami Herald . Archived from the original on June 3, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Rivera, Yar & Baker, Al (August 12, 2010). "Bystander Injured in Harlem Episode Cites 'Contagious Shooting' in Plan to Sue". The New York Times. p. A27. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  8. "6 officers fired 59 shots in 'suicide by cop' case". NBC News . 5 August 2009.
  9. New York Post; November 26, 2006; A Queens bachelor party turned into a bloodbath early yesterday when five cops opened fire on a car with 50 shots - killing the groom-to-be, wounding his two friends and leaving furious relatives demanding answers from the NYPD.
  10. Santos, Fernanda (July 24, 2006). "4 Officers Hurt (One by Pit Bull) as Police Fire 26 Shots to Kill Dog in Bronx". The New York Times.
  11. Mikkelson, David (26 December 2006). "Suspect Shot 68 Times by Police".
  12. Rashbaum, William K. (January 8, 2005). "Police Say Man They Shot Terrorized 2 Co-Workers". The New York Times. Man who died in a fusillade of more than 40 police bullets in Queens on Thursday had shot and wounded one deaf co-worker and kidnapped and raped another hours before the fatal confrontation, the police said yesterday
  13. 1 2 Baram, Marcus. How Common Is Contagious Shooting? ABC News. Nov. 27, 2006.
  14. 1 2 McFadden, Robert D. (March 26, 1999). "Lawyer Says 4 Officers Accused of Second-Degree Murder". The New York Times. Retrieved 2006-11-29. Some law enforcement officials said that it was possible that only one or two of the officers perceived a danger, and that the others opened fire simply because their comrades had begun firing – a phenomenon known in law enforcement circles as contagious shooting.
  15. Saletan, William (November 30, 2006). "Catch and Shoot. The perils of 'contagious shooting'". Slate . Retrieved December 1, 2006. In the Diallo era, the NYPD patrol guide explained that the first shot 'sets off a chain reaction of shooting by other personnel.'
  16. Hanley, Robert (June 2, 2000). "Troopers' Version of Shooting Is Disputed". The New York Times. Two New Jersey state troopers who face trial in the 1998 shooting of three minority men in a van on the New Jersey Turnpike told the authorities they shot in self-defense as the van backed toward one of them. But the state released a court document Wednesday in which one of the men, Danny Reyes, said he had raised his hands and was pleading as a trooper shot him four times.
  17. "May 4th Memorials". Kent State University. Archived from the original on May 8, 2010. Retrieved February 24, 2010.
  18. "TRIALS: Last Act at Kent State". Time . September 8, 1975. Archived from the original on November 7, 2012. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
  19. John Kifner (May 4, 1970). "4 Kent State Students Killed by Troops". The New York Times. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
  20. McDonald, Kyle (April 21, 2014). "Full History of Familiar Kent State Sculpture Comes to Light after Decades" . Record-Courier . Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  21. Chuck Joyner (29 Jan 2010). "Fighting the contagious fire phenomenon". PoliceOne.com. Retrieved 28 Apr 2013.