MULTIPLE SHOT TECHNIQUES I. Justification for Use

A. Multiple shot techniques are designed to immediately incapacitate a threat based upon resultant massive damage to the cardio respiratory system when applied. Techniques of this sort best lend themselves to close proximity situations where the officer is at most risk. Defense for the application of multiple shots is tied directly to:

1. Clearly stated departmental policy on the use of Deadly Force.

2. Documented individual officer understanding of departmental Deadly Force Policy.

3. Observation of an incident of violence so severe that if it is not immediately neutralized, loss of life would occur.

4. A critical analysis of the officer involved situation that would lead a reasonable man to believe that if controlled multiple shots were not applied, innocent life would be lost.

5. Graham vs. Connor, 109 S. CT. 1865 (1989)

The Court held that “the reasonableness of the particular use of force, therefore, is to be judged from the perspective of the Reasonable Officer on the scene”. Under this theory, the

Court says that an “officer’s malicious state of mind or intentions will not make a Fourth

Amendment violation out of an objectively reasonable use of force, nor will an officer’s good intentions make an objectively unreasonable use of force constitutional”.

B. Purpose: To accurately destroy designated areas of a threat through increased numbers of rounds.

II. Sequencing Shots

A. The officer must be taught to assess the severity of each threat encountered (proximity, level and type of violence, multiple threats) and fire as many rounds as necessary to immediately dispatch the threat.

B. Volume of Fire

1. Size of target area: The greater the size of the available target mass, the more appropriate the application of sequenced shots. Set size should range from 2-4 rounds.

2. Number of threats: Multiple threats reduce the number of rounds fired per target and require specific targeting zones to be effective in the time frame afforded the officer. Immediate threats are neutralized through neurological shot application while secondary threats are incapacitated through cardio respiratory shot trauma.

3. Rate of fire: The closer the threat, the more pronounced the need to deliver increasing numbers of rounds. This requires motor skill dexterity in trigger manipulation and the control of recoil. The speed with which subsequent shots are fired is predicated on proper trigger reset sequences and weapon stability on target.

4. Targeting vital areas: Primary locations in the human body for the delivery of multiple shots from any angle are:

a. Cardio respiratory areas of the neck and upper chest b. Neurological centers controlling motor function

c. Combination neurological / cardio respiratory areas. Each of these areas can be attacked with success from any angle by visualizing a five inch diameter cylinder that starts just below the brow line and extends vertically to the bottom of the sternum. The cylinder should contain the spinal cord along this line and extend toward the anterior portion of the body.

III. Incapacitation Time Frames

A. Neurological (motor point) hit away from spinal column - loss of motor control of affected limb (motor dysfunction) - likely immediate.

B. Neurological hit to spinal column - loss of motor control of legs and possibly control and bodily functions - likely immediate.

C. Neurological damage to brain (medulla oblongata) or brain stem - loss of motor control and bodily functions - likely immediate.

D. Cardio respiratory hit to center chest - hemorrhagic effect with loss of cavity pressure - potentially immediate but likely delayed to 15+ seconds.

E. Cardio respiratory/Neurological hit to throat - hemorrhagic effect with loss of motor function if penetration terminates in spine - likely immediate.

IV. Terminal Ballistics

A. Definition: The study of the projectile’s impact on the target and the subsequent damage that occurs.

Aggressive action by a determined adversary can only be stopped reliably and immediately with a handgun by a shot that disrupts the brain or upper spinal cord. Even the most disruptive heart wound cannot be relied upon to prevent aggression before 10 to 15 seconds has elapsed.

Given this limitation, massive bleeding from holes in the heart or major blood vessels of the torso causing circulatory collapse is the fastest and only other reliable mechanism available to the handgun user.

The anatomic location of these vessels must be well known for appropriate shot placement and the bullet used must be capable of reaching and disrupting them regardless of body position - this includes shots that may have to pass through an arm before striking the torso.

The blood vessels of the abdomen are six inches from the front abdominal skin even in a slender person. In the upper chest they are at least that deep when approached from the side.

Add to this a possible four inches for the thickness of an arm or a large abdomen and it becomes obvious that ten inches must be the absolute minimum penetration depth capability of any bullet that could be considered acceptable. Angles, fat, the arm as an intermediate target, etc., will increase the depth a bullet must go to get to these vessels - and when it gets there it must have energy left to go through them.

The critical consideration is that the bullet produces permanent tissue disruption to sufficient depths to insure major vessel disruption from any angle. Of the bullets that attain this goal, common sense would dictate that the largest one would be-the most effective since it would put a larger hole in the heart or vessels.

V. Procedure

A. Designed to be used against any of the following types of threats:

1. That person who poses an immediate life threatening situation at close proximity.

2. When an immediate stoppage of the adversary by conventional means has failed.

3. When it is believed that conventional means will fail if applied.

B. Shot Types:

1. Multiple shots to thoracic centerline (cardio respiratory).

2. Multiple shots to the neck centerline (neurological).

C. Shot Placement

1. Multiple shots must go to body centerline or heart area to accelerate bleeding, trauma and depressurization.

2. Multiple shots may be directed toward the throat to inhibit breathing and motor function.

3. Rounds to thoracic cavity from high centerline (mid-sternum) to lower jaw line with specific attention to the throat. Nerve as well as vascular damage will be in evidence here.

4. Shots of immediate incapacitation due to high level of neurological damage are located:

a. anterior view - either eye

b. lateral view - just behind the ear, level with the bottom of the ear lobe c. posterior view - directly at the base of the skull

VI. Instructor Considerations

There are two principles here, one mental and one physical. The mental principle focuses on understanding enough about how the body works to allow a minimum number of shots to be fired to neutralize. This avoids claims of unnecessary force when multiple shots are required.

The physical principle stresses “”the fundamental elements of sight picture and trigger control with the added component of recoil control. A system of “recoil reset - recover” must be established for each shot fired to maximize time on target with minimal effort.