“Andrea Rebello lived with her twin sister in an off-campus house in Uniondale, New York. A male suspect wearing a black ski mask forced his way into the residence, which the sisters shared with two other students,” cnn.com reports. “At some point during the night, the twins’ female roommate was able to leave the home and call police . . . When police arrived, there was an exchange of gunfire that left Andrea and the suspect dead. Police say the source of the gunfire that killed Rebello is still under investigation.” Sure, the bad guy shot a hostage before the cops ventilated him. Anyway, Ms. Rebello’s death is a reminder to us all that it’s best to take care of your own self-defense before the police arrive. Firearms are good that way. Home carry people. Home carry.
You mean the police can’t protect you 24/7? Who knew?
Sympathies to the victims family.
Sure they can. 27/7, their always no more than an hour away.
Yep, yesterday was still another home invasion in my town. There’s been a whole string of them. And while I’m pro law enforcement I’m enough of a realist to know that the cops can’t watch over all of us all the time. So pack a piece on you at home and have a shotgun or rifle close. Or both.
Actually the article didn’t specify if it was the cops or the burglar who shot her.
Unfortunately, FoxNews is now reporting that the authorities admit that the student was killed by police fire.
Either way, better that the only thing the cops have to do is call the coroner.
Would these police also have the 50 pound springs on their service pistols?
Which means they jerk a ton when firing off rounds, almost making sights on the gun useless.
Thats a load of bull the worst NYPD trigger is 12lbs. I can shoot just fine with the 13lb DA trigger in my FNP45T. It takes practice, thats all.
Practice that several LEO friends of the family are pretty adamant about saying most LEO’s are not getting…
We need to set up a fund to send this guy around the world to all dangerous hostage situations.
Back in the real world, 10 yards under stress, you aim an inch to the right on your sights and it will be about 3 feet at the target. Noone has ever said the handgun is the ideal tool to accurately take out a threat. Cops shoot less per year than most enthusiasts.
A twin killed, a twin left alone. Very sad situation. Cop involved shooting, yet at this time no one knows WHO killed the young lady. Was it the cops? Was it the bad guy? This occurring in an area of the country hostile to firearms. We as pro 2A will jump to the conclusion that “if she/they had a gun……”, but that may not necessarily be applicable. Not all people are pro gun, and even many amongst those who are, there are those who do not wish to own or carry, I know a few and I respect their feelings. No matter what the truth is at the end, a torn family, and cops who will recriminate themselves is to be the end result. Not good for any party involved.
The idea isn’t “a gun would have helped,” it’s “a gun could have helped.” A gun is a chance, not a guarantee.
Probably the most helpful aspect of home carry is the mindset that accompanies it, that there is no such thing as perfect safety and if anything happens to you, there’s only one person you can rely on to be there from minute zero: you yourself.
While home carry is good advice, we must remember this incident took place near a college in New York State. I have it on good info that the Cuomo Comintern tends to frown on private ownership of firearms, and hapless Andrea would have been permitted only 7 rounds to defend herself with.
Some of us still (and will always) have guns at the ready here. But on Long Island, home invasion is becoming the crime of choice. Rather than burglarize an empty house and have to search for loot, why not hit an occupied house and “persuade” the occupants to give up the goods? They’re all too willing. Especially when the probability of hitting a residence with arms is probably less than 5%.
It would be tragic if the woman was hit by a cop’s bullet, but it would still be 100% the fault of the scumbag who set the series of events in motion by invading the sanctity of someone else’s home.
It is official. The cop killed both the perp and vic. 8 rounds fired. 7 to the perp and one to the victim.
This story makes me sick on so many levels. This shockingly beautiful girl is now dead thanks to the failed safety policies of the State of New York.
“This shockingly beautiful girl is now dead thanks to an armed government employee of the State of New York.”
FIFY
Well, this just in (via CNN). Perp was holding gun to head of said hostage and pointed at cops. Cops fired 8 shots. 7 hit perp. 1 hit hostage (RIP) in the head. Tragic. But I guess Nassau P.D. has been putting in more time at the Mitchel Field Range than the my hometown NYPD has. I know we don’t yet have all the deets, but given the hostage-in-the-middle situation, I’m not understanding why they opened fire if they hadn’t been fired upon.
My confusion is further compounded as to why they went blam, blam, blam with relatively inaccurate handguns under duress when even an iron-sight AR would have upped the accuracy significantly.
Terrible tragedy. Condolences to the family…
CNN:
“At the time of the shooting, Smith was wanted for jumping parole, police said.
He was on parole for first-degree robbery and had an “extensive” arrest history that includes robbery, assault, and promoting prison contraband, said police in Nassau County.”
— We can call for more extensive funding and time sentenced and/or we can call for examining the roots of the family (or lack of)/social/educational weaknesses and problems that lead to violence.
And meanwhile, in Houston… a home invasion results in a homeowner being able to fight back.
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Intruder-shot-in-gunfire-with-Houston-resident-4515546.php
New York: Strong gun laws, felon on parole gets gun anyway, innocent young victim shot dead—by the police.
Now, are all those laws protecting the citizenry? Or controlling them?
Does NY state law permit standing one’s ground in a home invasion? I don’t think they do.
While it should have been a DGU in a perfect world, NY is far from a perfect world.
Not sure about neighboring Nassau County, but within Queens County (and the other 4 Dystopian boroughs), which are even more draconian than the rest of Long Island, there is no ‘Stand your ground’ law. Castle Doctrine is vague at best. But, when you go to 1PP for licensing, you’re provided a pamphlet as well as instruction by the licensing officer that you should make an attempt to retreat or otherwise squash the situation.
If/when deadly force is required (even within the confines of your actual house), I think you’d better be damned sure there are clear signs of forced entry, or other “mitigating” signs that you had no other choice like maybe having unloaded from a top of a staircase, or perhaps clear signs of a massive struggle. Otherwise, you may be provided an all-expenses paid trip to Central Booking and a surprise party with a Grand Jury.
My 2 cents…
http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/18/us/new-york-student-killed/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
“New York home invasion suspect killed in shootout was Dalton Smith, 30
He was on parole for first-degree robbery, Nassau County police say
But he was wanted for absconding from parole since April 25, police say”
Why do I feel like these cops cant wait to get some rounds off?? Granted he did point the gun at them, I just feel like it could have been handled a different way….I think Nassau PD officers need to hit the range more often….
OK, I got nothing. For once, police and judicial incompetence exceeds my cynicism.
If this is the sort of feckless stupidity we’re going to see from cops, then we’d be better off with vigilantes, if for no other reason than vigilantes are cheaper.
Isn’t there a completely different protocol for hostage situations? Why would you open fire directly toward the direction of a hostage? Is it wrong to hope the cop gets charged with involuntary manslaughter at the very least?
You’d think. It looks like instead the cop was thinking about only one thing: his own personal safety.
To wit, the bad guy did not actually shoot at the cop, but just pointed the gun at him (allegedly). In a hostage situation, that should’ve backed the cop off, not tripped his death blossom switch. Note, that the parolee did not suddenly indicate that he was gonna shoot the girl.
In a tense confrontation with the officer, gunman Dalton Smith “menaces our police officer, points his gun at the police officer,” Azzata said. The officer opened fire, killing Smith and his hostage.
“Death Blossom switch.” I’ll be using that.
The last starfighter ain’t dead.
Thanks. Which reminds me, here’s the clip from that Hofstra shooting…at least as I imagine it looked: http://youtu.be/hlAsSyDAWR8
That was pretty awesome.
Notice the emphasis in the police reports that 8 shots were fired. This makes it compliant with the new NY SAFE act of 7 rounds in the mag.
I have to wonder what actions Archie Bunker would have taken in a home invasion…?
Has Cuomo blamed the NRA yet? Or claimed his new gun control prevented this from being worse?
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