EPISODE 4
North Hollywood Shootout
The JonBenet Ramsey Murder Mystery
In the mid-90s a little girl was reported to be kidnapped but was later found dead in the basement of her large, Boulder CO home. The case remains unsolved today, and several procedural errors on behalf of the officers and investigators who responded to the scene tainted our best chances to identify and prosecute Jon Benet’s killer. Many believe the parents or her older brother were to blame. A sex offender claimed to be responsible but there wasn’t sufficient evidence to prove it. Some think that the family’s wealth and political ties had something to do with it. We may not ever know the truth. Mike and Jim give a synopsis of the event and talk about some of the mis-steps that might have helped detectives solve the mystery.
“I would just shoot him,” and other imaginary outcomes.
Most of us have daydreamed, imagined, and rehearsed what certain survival or self-defense encounters will look like in our minds, so we are going to make fun of our younger-selves and shed some light on something we are all guilty of: The Tactical Fantasy. This episode is about making sure that we ground those fantasies in reality. This goes beyond truck guns and the Zombie Apocalypse, it also speaks to the OODA loop, tactics, risk management, and other important concepts. Mike and Jim walk through some practical steps to stage our equipment, preparedness, and mindset accordingly.
The Millennium Bomber: Terrorist Attack Thwarted by CBP
A terror plot at the turn of the century was thwarted by the professionalism of CBP Agent Diana Dean. You might not have heard of the foiled plot to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport amidst New Year’s celebrations for the year 2000. This Al Qaeda sponsored terrorist attack was prevented by an Agent who noted Ahmed Ressam’s suspicious behavior and sent him to a secondary inspection. We touch on pre-attack indicators, the radicalization process, and a defense strategy called “The Swiss Cheese Model.”
Break down of the 1997 North Hollywood Shootout. 20 years ago this year, two dudes brought the LAPD and a few assisting agencies to their knees during a bank robbery that turned into an epic gunfight. Amazingly, the only two fatalities that day were the bad guys, but there were about 20 others wounded (civilian and police). Some of the big take aways have to do with the proliferation of long guns and armored vehicles in law enforcement, shooting “two the body, one to the head,” and how we apply the concept of shooting at the center of whatever mass is available. We also talk briefly about how this event might have been charactized as an active shooter in the early stages and how we might have handled this differently today.
If you know about or were involved with an incident that you think had worthwhile lessons learned, let us know!
Subscribe to the podcast on your favorite app to get new episodes on the 1st and 15th of every month! Thank you for your feedback, likes/shares/reviews. Find us on Facebook @TacTangents or www.tacticaltangents.com
Show Links:
News helicopter raw video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZg4mcYkIwU
Police audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5mkd6r9Kww
Fox News report https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E4_wDQFky0
Self inflicts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzjsQ-cxHBU
Nat geo documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q44yGYlUoQQ
44 min film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wty8VSi4Fs0
LA police commission use of force report: http://documents.latimes.com/north-hollywood-shootout-use-force-report/
Intro music credit Bensound.com
Armando Jimenez, a beer salesman, was on his way into the bank to cash a check when the first shots sounded. It appeared to him that one of the bandits panicked.