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The article says she was shot six times. You'd think after the first two or three rounds the shooter might have realized something wasn't right. Just a weird deal all the way around.
Another article about this tragedy.
http://weaponsman.com/?p=39284
That article is internally contradictory. First they say:
And then immediately following that they quote the USA Today article:Citizen Mary Knowlton of Punta Gorda, FL, a retired librarian, was playing “cop” in an exercise designed to show how little time a cop has to make the shoot/no-shoot decision. Officer Lee Coel was playing felon, and he got the drop on Knowlton, firing several shots (some stories have suggested six) from his training/simulator pistol.
Except, it wasn’t his training pistol. It was his service pistol, as everyone in the room immediately realized, in shock. (With the apparent exception of Coel, or he’d have stopped at one shot).
(emphasis added in both quotes)On Aug. 9, Mary Knowlton, a 73-year-old retired librarian, was participating in a police night hosted by the Punta Gorda Chamber of Commerce when Punta Gorda police officer Lee Coel, 28, shot and killed her with a weapon meant for training.
This seemed to be a little better article:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-Lee-Coel.html
He loaded duty ammunition rather than blanks or simunition rounds. This obviously begins as a training failure as live ammunition should never be present in a sim range. The article states that Coel shot Knowlton twice, once in the shoulder and once in the chest. Her husband of 55 years was 10 feet away when he witnessed his wife's death. She was chosen at random to help with the exercise.
It sort of makes it hard for me to breath when I read this stuff. Life is sometimes very painful.
Hug someone you love and Be Safe.
Yep. I think I may have started that thread, but can't find it.Originally Posted by 68Charger
ETA: Went through my posts around that time and couldn't find anything. Maybe I'm mis-remembering. I've had anesthesia since then....twice.
Last edited by Gman; 02-23-2017 at 21:13.
Liberals never met a slippery slope they didn't grease.
-Me
I wish technology solved people issues. It seems to just reveal them.
-Also Me
For the grammarly retentive, is this a "negligent" shooting or an "accidental" shooting?
Not to make light of the outcome at all, but we gun types like to make distinctions about these kind of things.
Last edited by GilpinGuy; 02-23-2017 at 23:14. Reason: punctuation
The only person who can answer whether the discharge was intentional or unintentional is the off-duty LAPD officer who discharged the weapon. I haven't seen any statements yet that can be directly attributed to that officer.
I'm in no way baiting the MODFATHER, but this is weird one to pin down. The officer was obviously careless (negligent) - he didn't know what was in his chamber. But he also deliberately pulled the trigger for a purpose other than shooting (accidental). I'm just a grammar weirdo I guess.
I apologize for the confusion in my post (#27). My post was intended for the thread on the Anaheim shooting and not related to the shooting in Punta Gorda, FL. That I posted this comment in the wrong thread is my error and I again apologize for any confusion that has resulted from my error.
As for the training death in Punta Gorda, FL, I stand by my other posts in this thread. Officer Coel bears the majority of the responsibility for this death as he alone loaded the pistol used to kill Mrs. Knowlton. As this was a training death, the members of the training staff and ultimately the department as a whole shares some responsibility for her death. According to the news stories, the city of Punta Gorda moved quickly to pay a 2 million dollar settlement to her family and the state of Florida has criminally charged both Officer Coel and the Chief of Police in the matter. Nothing can provide true justice for Mrs. Knowlton's death, but so far it appears that all that can be done under our system of laws is being done.
As to the issue of accidental or negligence, I will try not to comment other than to say that as of today, I am more inclined to see shootings as intentional or unintentional. I prefer these terms as they do not necessarily convey ill intent so much as they describe the willful decisions made by the shooter. Intentional shootings can be wrong and criminal. Unintentional shootings, while rare, could actually be beneficial. In the case of the Punta Gorda shooting, Officer Coel intentionally fired his pistol. If the rounds in the pistol had been blanks rather than actual rounds, we would not be discussing it and Mrs. Knowlton would not have been murdered. The discharge was not negligent because the pistol was fired, but was wrong because of the ammunition that was fired. As for the Anaheim shooting, I believe the investigation has just begun and I will withhold judgment until more information is available.
I hope this post doesn't come off as hair splitting. I believe that actions have consequences and that true justice awaits each and everyone of us. May God have mercy on us.
Be safe.
Good response. I did mean to hair split because so many times we hear gun guys freak and say "It was not an accidental discharge....it was a negligent discharge!" Fine line in this case. Both? Unless he intentionally murdered the woman, of course, but I seriously doubt that.
I feel for both the deceased and the officer here. This is a vocabulary thing. Language is important.
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