Contagious shooting
Encyclopedia
A contagious shooting is a sociological
phenomenon observed in military
and police
personnel in which one person firing on a target can induce others to begin shooting. Often the subsequent shooters will not know why they are firing.
This is defined as "officers firing because others are doing so," or according to Professor Eugene J. O'Donnell of John Jay College, "cops shoot because other cops shoot." While commonly accepted in popular culture
and police jargon
, there has been yet no scientific evidence
"to prove the existence of a contagious shooting dynamic," which O'Donnell said was a "debateable notion."
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."
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
phenomenon observed in military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
and police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
personnel in which one person firing on a target can induce others to begin shooting. Often the subsequent shooters will not know why they are firing.
This is defined as "officers firing because others are doing so," or according to Professor Eugene J. O'Donnell of John Jay College, "cops shoot because other cops shoot." While commonly accepted in popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
and police jargon
Jargon
Jargon is terminology which is especially defined in relationship to a specific activity, profession, group, or event. The philosophe Condillac observed in 1782 that "Every science requires a special language because every science has its own ideas." As a rationalist member of the Enlightenment he...
, there has been yet no scientific evidence
Scientific evidence
Scientific evidence has no universally accepted definition but generally refers to evidence which serves to either support or counter a scientific theory or hypothesis. Such evidence is generally expected to be empirical and properly documented in accordance with scientific method such as is...
"to prove the existence of a contagious shooting dynamic," which O'Donnell said was a "debateable notion."
In classic cases
Precedent
In common law legal systems, a precedent or authority is a principle or rule established in a legal case that a court or other judicial body may apply when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts...
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."
Incidents
- 2011: On Memorial Day in Miami Beach several police officers fired til empty on a stopped car after the driver smashed into other cars, killing the driver and injuring seven bystanders.
- 2010: Five cops fired 40 shots at a robbery suspect after carjacking a woman and her two children, killing the suspect and wounding the carjack victims in Jacksonville, FloridaJacksonville, FloridaJacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
. - 2010: A bystander was injured in HarlemHarlemHarlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
when a man "open[ed] fire on responding officers, who fired 46 times in response." "In the Harlem episode, unlike the Bell and Diallo cases, a gun was shot before any officers fired, according to the police account. So, Professor O’Donnell said, in the Harlem case, 'there really is a shot,' and not just the threat of gunfire." - 2009: A man threatening officers with a rifle was shot 59 times in what was ruled a "suicide-by-cop."
- 2006: Five officers fired 50 shots at Sean Bell in Queens, New York, including 31 by one detective - who reloaded his weapon during the incident.
- 2006: Three officers fired 26 shots at a pit bull that had bitten a chunk out of an officer’s leg in the Bronx, New York in July.
- 2006: Police fired 110 rounds at a suspect, Angilo FreelandAngilo FreelandAngilo Freeland was an Antiguan national who was pulled over for speeding in Lakeland, Florida by Polk County Sheriff's Deputy Doug Speirs around noon on September 28, 2006. After giving the officer a fake ID, and the officer called for backup, Freeland ran into the woods and hid...
, who had killed an officer earlier, hitting him 68 times. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd famously told the Orlando Sentinel, "That's all the bullets we had". - 2005: Eight officers fired 43 shots at Brian Allen, an armed man, in Queens, New York killing him.
- 2005: June, six Los Angeles County, CaliforniaLos Angeles County, CaliforniaLos Angeles County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states...
sheriff's deputies fired more than 50 shots into the car in which drunken driving suspect Carl Williams was driving, after his car rammed a police vehicle following a chase. One deputy had to reload his weapon during the incident. - 2004: "When 44-year-old drug suspect Winston Hayes' SUV lurched forward he hit a police car, deputies unloaded their weapons, firing 120 shots. Four bullets ended up hitting Hayes who survived, one hit a deputy sheriff, 11 hit patrol cars and 11 hit five homes in the neighborhood (one of them ended up tearing a hole in a homeowner's hat)." —ABC News.
- 1999: Four officers fired 41 shots at Amadou DialloAmadou DialloAmadou Diallo was a 23-year-old Guinean immigrant in New York City who was shot and killed on February 4, 1999 by four New York City Police Department plain-clothed officers: Sean Carroll, Richard Murphy, Edward McMellon and Kenneth Boss. The four officers fired a total of 41 shots...
, an unarmed man in the Bronx, New York on February 4, 1999. - 1998: New Jersey State PoliceNew Jersey State PoliceThe New Jersey State Police is the state police force for the state of New Jersey. It is a general-powers police agency with state wide jurisdiction when requested by the Governor, designated by Troop Sectors.-History:...
fired 11 shots at Daniel Reyes and three other basketball players in their car in April.
Usage
- New York Times; August 12, 2010; Defined as "officers firing because others are doing so. ... The simplest culturally accepted definition ... is that 'cops shoot because other cops shoot.'"
- United Press InternationalUnited Press InternationalUnited Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...
; November 27, 2006; Police experts have suggested "contagious shooting" may have played a role in a deadly New York incident when five officers fired 50 rounds at a man. - Baltimore Sun; May 24, 2006; "If one fires, the rest fire. It is called contagious shooting," Mamet said. "People start shooting; they don't even know why."
- New York Times; March 26, 1999; "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."
- New York Daily NewsNew York Daily NewsThe Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
; March 10, 1999; "A lawyer for one of four cops who shot Amadou Diallo hinted yesterday that a phenomenon known as "contagious shooting" — in which a cop's shot sparks a volley from other officers — may have caused his client to fire 16 shots... According to the NYPD patrol guide, contagious shooting occurs when "a shot fired by one officer sets off a chain reaction of shooting by other personnel ... Thomas Reppetto, head of the Citizens Crime Commission, said the term contagious shooting was used during 1960s riots when a cop would fire at what he thought was a sniper and other officers would follow."