The body of a Korean man who died in Mexico was returned to his wife ‘without brain, stomach and heart.’ His widow is now petitioning authorities to return her husband’s organs.
The 35-year-old (known only as Mr Kim) leaves behind two children and a wife, who claims there was nothing natural about her husband’s cause of death.
After Mr Kim’s body was flown back to his family in South Korea “without brain, stomach and heart”, his wife claims the father-of-two was involved in a fight before he died.
THE REAL STORY
She claims he was involved in an altercation at a karaoke bar in Monterrey on the day he died. According to Mrs Kim, her unconscious husband was rushed to hospital the night of January 3, where he was later pronounced dead. All of this was allegedly caught on CCTV.
Her fears of a cover-up were amplified when she demanded a second autopsy be performed on January 21 by the Korean National Forensic Service.
A forensic scientist told her there were signs of external injury and bruising on her husband’s body. He was also missing his brain and stomach. The NFS could not determine the cause of his death due to the missing organs.
“More than a week later, I received the autopsy result that says ‘no external injuries.’ I was dumbfounded,” Mrs. Kim wrote on the Cheong Wa Dae website, where she has launched an online petition.
She claims Mexican police were not investigating her husband’s death because on paper, dying of natural causes was not suspicious.
FIGHT FOR JUSTICE
Mrs Kim is now demanding Mexican authorities return her husband’s organs. “My husband was a citizen of Korea. His three-year-old son and 11-month-old daughter have lost their father,” she wrote. “Please help me and help my husband.”
Since January 22, the petition has garnered more than 17,500 signatures.
KBS World Radio has confirmed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in South Korea has also asked Mexican authorities to return the missing organs, which are believed to be at the Servicio Medico Forense (Forensic Medical Service).
Psychopaths are all the rage, lately. About 1% of the population meet the clinical criteria for psychopathy.1 That percentage rises to 3-4% in senior executives.2 Many articles and books list their attributes and behaviors. Still, advice on what to do about them is sparse.
I have an idea: use the new tool enabling psychiatrists to standardize their diagnosis and communicate accurately about such “patients”. That is, use the PCL-R (Psychopathy Checklist-Revised) to detect the potential psychopaths in your life. Then eject them before they have a chance to do the damage they seem born to do. You don’t have to be an expert to protect yourself.
If that seems harsh then avail yourself of the innumerable books and articles about these human predators. They rarely create anything but chaos. They’re usually parasites that rely on the productivity of others to supply for their every need. And yet, human hosts abound. Hosts, who don’t realize they’re facilitating their own demise until it’s too late.
I wrote a book about a suspected psychopath to thicken the non-fiction part of his résumé. He hasn’t been brought to justice, yet, but perhaps my book will put a digital noose around his neck, in the meantime. In Chapter 13 of “The Creature from Galt’s Gulch” I used eyewitness accounts to compare the suspect with Dr. Robert Hare’s PCL-R checklist for psychopathy.
Beginning of Book Excerpt
Johnson and the Psychopathy Checklist
Here’s a list of eyewitness accounts of Johnson and their correspondence to the attributes and behaviors on Dr. Robert Hare’s PCL-R checklist for psychopathy.
Preserving the term, “Psychopathy”
Words are often used with little respect for their original meaning. They’re used in propaganda and strung together in phrases that become memes. Memes are captured in social media, sitcoms, and movies. Within a few short years the word bears little resemblance to its original meaning. The first casualty is that the word in question may never recover it’s original, and most powerful, meaning. Even greater damage is done by obscuring the definition of a perfectly good word and thereby shrinking the vocabulary of humanity. It then takes that much more effort to communicate effectively.
We’re all familiar with the trivial use of the word “Fascist” hurled at anyone, and anything, the accuser may not like or that presents a maddening obstacle to their whims. Only when fascism describes the merger of corporate with state powers does meaning reappear. Another word that must be recovered to understand Galt’s Gulch Chile is “Psychopath”.
If your understanding of the word “Psychopath” is anyone acting in a way you don’t understand or agree with, then maybe the word “Psychotic” or “Psychosis” is a better fit. At the heart of the GGC story there sits a man exhibiting behaviors I believe (As a layman) to be consistent with the medical use of the term “Psychopath”. I refer to him as the “Creature” or Kenneth Dale Johnson. I have been careful to refrain from throwing the word “Psychopath” around in the irresponsible manner in which the word has become a cultural meme since 2010. That was when the Showtime series, “Dexter”, portrayed one as an ersatz hero. The word “Psychopath” is a medical term used to describe someone who lacks all empathy with their fellow man, someone who has no conscience, someone who can lie about millions of dollars of stolen money as if he were handing you an ice cream cone. It gets worse, but, let’s just leave it at that, for now.
As a layman, with no psychiatric medical training, I’ll stick with the PCL-R standard the professionals use to diagnose psychopathy. Dr. Robert Hare’s revised checklist for psychopathy is something I recommend all people become familiar with as a tool to assist in spotting, and then avoiding, the psychopaths that cross their path.
If there should be some kind of future “therapy” to shift the behavior of psychopaths towards that which, at least, acknowledges empathy with their fellow man (And not their pets or animals as is characteristic of the psychopath) then I welcome it. As of today, there is no such therapy that I’m aware of. The best course of action is to understand the behavior, recognize when they are being exhibited by someone, gauge the extent to which the person under consideration may be a psychopath, and avoid them in equal measure.
I believe that, unless Johnson ends up in jail, he’ll move on to live somewhere else in the world. May what’s been written here about the damage he’s done to so many people be added to his resume.
As of June, 2015 Johnson is making the mistake of recording himself on dozens of video updates he calls “Farm updates”. As with the rare movie, “I, Psychopath” where Sam Vaknin allows a filmmaker to create a documentary about him, this is a rare opportunity to study the behavior of a likely psychopath, in real time, and on video.
“Each of the 20 items in the PCL-R is scored on a three-point scale, with a rating of 0 if it does not apply at all, 1 if there is a partial match or mixed information, and 2 if there is a reasonably good match to the offender. This is said to be ideally done through a face-to-face interview together with supporting information on lifetime behavior (e.g. from case files), but is also done based only on file information. It can take up to three hours to collect and review the information. Out of a maximum score of 40, the cut-off for the label of psychopathy is 30 in the United States and 25 in the United Kingdom. A cut-off score of 25 is also sometimes used for research purposes. High PCL-R scores are positively associated with measures of impulsivity and aggression, Machiavellianism, persistent criminal behavior, and negatively associated with measures of empathy and affiliation.”
— Wikipedia entry for “Psychopathy Checklist”
GGC Logo
With five categories unknown Kenneth Dale Johnson already rates a score of 29, in the collective recollection of those who’ve tangled with him. If correct, that makes him a psychopath in the UK and 1 point shy in the US. What do you think are the chances of him scoring a 0 in the unknown categories?
End of Book Excerpt
If you’re interested in the full story of Galt’s Gulch Chile the 186-page book is free for those who have access to the resource library.
Dealing with Psychopaths
You have two options:
Detect and Avoid.
Disentangle, Starve, and Extract.
Detect and Avoid
The unhired employee is the easiest to fire. The unentangled friend has no pretense to interfere. The unmarried crazy-maker is the easiest to divorce. Memorize the attributes of the PCL-R checklist so you can vet strangers that want to become more than strangers. Be on guard for anything over a score of 10 or for any attributes you find disturbing. Call former business associates and friends (If there are any). Did your candidate get along well with others? Did they show genuine empathy for other people? Would they do business with them again? Are they still friends? Just those four questions are probably enough.
I have a friend with an uncanny ability to detect the unseen factors about people and situations. She refers to it as her “Spidey Sense”. In the seven years I’ve known her she’s never been wrong. Now, when she tells me something is up I adjust my thoughts and actions to be in line with her intuitions. My friend has rare abilities. However, perhaps you can assemble a group of friends to achieve a similar result? Why not invite your candidate out for coffee for an informal vetting session?
Learning to recognize an aggressive move when somebody makes one and learning how to handle oneself in any of life’s many battles has turned out to be the most empowering experience for the manipulation victims with whom I’ve worked. It’s how they eventually freed themselves from their manipulator’s dominance and control and gained a much needed boost to their own sense of self-esteem. Recognizing the inherent aggression in manipulative behavior and becoming more aware of the slick, surreptitious ways that manipulative people prefer to aggress against us is extremely important. Not recognizing and accurately labeling their subtly aggressive moves causes most people to misinterpret the behavior of manipulators and, therefore, fail to respond to them in an appropriate fashion.3
Heavily Scrutinize Claims of Pain, Hurt Feelings, or Victimhood from Prospective Friends, Partners, etc.
Are they sharing a real experience or merely evoking feelings of sympathy to put you off-guard?
The tactics manipulators use can make it seem like they’re hurting, caring, defending, … almost anything but fighting. These tactics are hard to recognize as merely clever ploys. They always make just enough sense to make a person doubt their gut hunch that they’re being taken advantage of or abused. Besides, the tactics not only make it hard for you to consciously and objectively tell that a manipulator is fighting, but they also simultaneously keep you unconsciously on the defensive. These features make them highly effective psychological weapons to which anyone can be vulnerable. It’s hard to think clearly when someone has you emotionally on the run.4
Disentangle, Starve, and Extract
If you fail to detect or avoid a psychopath it will be much harder to get rid of them once they’ve embedded themselves into your life or business. It will be like trying to capture a spider while preserving the web. There will be people, assets, and money to preserve during the extraction. You can’t possibly care less about these things than your psycho already does. A psycho will think and feel nothing in “burning” through all of them just to see your reaction. Your best bet is to proceed slowly and document their every move so that contradictions and lies can be made visible to all. Get them talking and record everything (which is what psychos, themselves, are famous for doing). The biggest lies of their twisted premises must be debunked to the satisfaction of those who don’t yet see the spider for who they are. Those who don’t yet see through the psychos deceptions are unwittingly feeding the spider that will eventually bite them. In the meantime, the spider will continue to feed on the energy of those who still believe their lies. The idea is to cut off this source of the spider’s food so it eventually starves amidst a desert of unbelieving attention.
The ideal outcome is to have the spider eject themselves from the web. They will do so in huffs and indignant cries of counter-accusations. The psycho will go down with the ship repeating the same tired stories of how they have always been the victim and don’t care how many people don’t believe them. If you’ve done your homework such cries and accusations will now be seen and recognized by all to be ridiculous.
Of course, psycho extractions are rarely smooth and are difficult even when they can be done, at all. Perhaps Kent Kiehl’s, “The Psychopath Whisperer” can help. You may also enjoy Ann Barnhardt’s presentation on Diabolical Narcissism.
Their Words are Dead until You Make them Alive
Repeating the accusations of a psychopath makes dead words come alive. You are the source of that life. The more you repeat their words the more life the words have to impact the living. Stop repeating them, or even listening to them, and a psychopaths words remain dead in their own mouths. I’ve had personal experience with this.
A former boss of mine used to plant lies among his small group of five or so consultants. The point of his lies were to gain information from how each consultant reacted to them. I knew what he was doing but was never able to persuade the others to ignore his lies, altogether. When a co-worker would feel cornered into admitting to some trivial error the boss held it up as proof of the entire group being “liars”. That story reminds me of a simple and effective method for …
Extracting the Truth from a Psychopath
It’s easier than you think. Psychos are all blabber-mouths and can’t keep their own mouths shut. Your job is to listen and record. Then, translate their accusations as what they are: projected admissions of what the psycho, themselves, have done or are doing. It really is that simple. Psychos don’t so much create their own lies as much as they describe what they’ve actually done, and what their own motivations were. Then, a few names are swapped around, and fresh accusations can be launched. If cornered, your psycho will, of course, extend the web. But that be plausibly and quickly done with the inside knowledge of having been the original culprit.
Think of it this way: They’re not performing the mental feat of keeping track of multiple lies and the rippling consequences of multiple conflicting stories. They’re merely reciting from memory what they, themselves, have done.
Example
Psycho: “You’re a lying buffoon who has doctored up your resume with false experience while taking credit for the work that Joe and Marcia have done! You’re also using company money to pay for non-business events and expenses!”
You: Excellent. Now I know that my psycho has:
Lied.
Doctored up his resume
Taken credit for Joe and Marcia’s work
Used company money for travel, food, and events.
This is as close to a direct admission of deeds and guilt as your ever likely to get from your local psychopath. Enjoy it. Now you know exactly what they’ve been up to and how they mucked things up.
Herd Immunity from Psychos?
There is little hope or evidence that such creatures will self-correct and change their destructive ways. As with most problems facing humanity the hope lies in what changes the victims can make to avoid or neutralize the attack.
In the long-term, humanity must confront and overcome the following deficiencies if “Herd Immunity” is to be attained:
A pervasive lack of awareness of their existence.
Inability to diagnose and, therefore, to defend against, avoid, or thwart.
No understanding of how they fit-in, demographically, with humanity.
Apologetic denial that notorious figures of history were obvious and diagnosable psychopaths but my “friend” (Partner, Business Associate, City Councilman, etc.) is different.
No spiritual discernment of the possibility that some people are just plain evil and that’s all there is to it.
A knee-jerk tendency to dismiss outrageous behavior happening right in front of them.
A tendency to take responsibility for outrageous behavior so as not to upset the guilty offender with the truth, or upset the sensibilities of the group.
A long willingness to “Strike-a-Deal” to cap the bleeding despite an established string of lies.
Anyone wanting to avoid being victimized by covert-aggression must redefine the terms of engagement with a would-be manipulator. To do this effectively, one must: 1. be free of any harmful misconceptions about human nature and behavior, 2. know how to correctly assess the character of others, 3. heighten self-awareness, paying special attention to aspects of one’s own character that increase vulnerability to manipulation, 4. correctly recognize and label the tactics of manipulation and respond to them ap- propriately, 5. avoid fighting losing battles, and 6. know how to maintain a position of power and strength in interpersonal relationships.5
But, what about the short-term? What might you be able to do right now about the potential psychopaths in your life?
Adopt-A-Path
Ex-CIA agent Robert David Steele advised bloggers to adopt their own zip-code and illuminate whatever hanky-panky is going on.
“If you bloggers self-organize and attach yourselves like leeches to specific issues, corporations, organizations, challenges, whatever, you will be the intelligence minutemen of this century. The power is in your hands.”
Perhaps the same could done for Psychopaths or Diabolical Narcissists?
For those inclined I recommend being quite sure of the informal diagnosis of your adopted specimen. Preserve your integrity by using words and terms accurately. You won’t need to use hyperbole as there’s no need to exaggerate behavior that’s already quite outrageous. I’ve also learned from experience the many benefits of the writer having no ties, whatsoever, to the subject or their crimes. Human cooperation confuses the living daylight out of these creatures. They can’t understand something that’s not within them to ever do. I suppose that leaves them without much light, at all.
May it leave them with no victims, either.
Hare, R. D 1994, ‘Predators: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths among Us’,Psychology Today, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 54–61 ↩
Baibak, P; Hare, R. D Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work (2007) ↩
In Sheep’s Clothing, Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative People, George K. Simon, Ph.D., page 8. ↩
The world discards ideas and people that present multiple standard deviations away from “normal”. And yet, Reality has always been phenomenal and noumenal. To ensure you’re able to thrive in the artificial chaos of this generation you’ll need to be an outlier, in many ways. Here’s “The Outlier’s Handbook” to optimize your trajectory.
The Outlier’s Handbook
(Thriving in Artificial Chaos)
Table of Contents
Part 1 — What Outliers?
“Let Your Reasonableness Be Known to Everyone”
Ockham’s Razor: Benefits & Limits
The Bookends of Normalcy Bias & Cognitive Dissonance
“This Book Goes Too Far!”
What Outliers?
Outliers Defined
You Know You’re An Outlier If . . .
Outlier Benefits
Outlier Costs
Personal Secession and Other Outlier Mindsets
Part 2 — It’s Your World, Boss!
This Is Where You Live
American Roulette
The Constitution is Safe!
A Bank with Social Services Around It
Democracy: The God that Failed
The Corporation
The Deep State
Fascism, American Style
Lifecycle of Nations
“Poverty of Nations” Report Card
Imperial Collapse Playbook
Danger, Will Robinson!
Technocracy: The Trojan Horse of Global Transformation
Regional Bloc Head Mercantilism
Gee, Maybe Nation-States Weren’t So Bad, After All
Solutions Amidst Global Fascism
Change Happens Like This, Now
Part 3 — The Usual Suspects
Call Them As You See Them
Origin & Story of Rulers and Authorities
Angelic Gen 6 View: Consistency & Insights
So, Who are “They”?
The “New” Face of Evil (Follow the Blood)
Long Term Trends Require Spiritual Unity
The Minions
A Working Structure of Oppression
They Walk Among Us
Serial Killers
How Can You Spot One?
Political Ponerology
7 signs you might be dating one
Protection From Them
Speech Patterns
I, Psychopath
The Hidden Cost of Killing Psychopaths
Beware the Backlash
Elements of Their World View
Their Goals
”Ye Shall Be As Gods”
Their Methods
The Moral Code of Evil
Inversion
Undisclosed Adhesion Contracts
Counterfeit Money
Controlled Markets
Technocracy
Stacked & Interlocking Pyramidical Structures
Consolidation
Democracy
Eugenics
Perpetual Fear
Long-Term Planning
With Methods Like This, Who Needs the Occult?
Part 4 — Acquiring Immunity
Move #1: Acquire Personal Immunity
Personal Matters
Purpose is Everything
Managing Outlierhood
Growth
Ethical Time Travel
Health Matters
First Do No Harm
Clean Food, Water, Air & Place
Nutrient Dense Diet
Gut Flora, Probiotics and the Second Brain
Optimal Exercise
Stress & Breathing
Life Extension & Blood Sugar Management
Sensible Health Insurance
Putting It All Together
Spiritual Matters
Intelligent or Random Design
Oneism (Monism) vs. Dualism
CINO’s & MINO’s
Christianity Leads To Science, Islam leads to Murder
Gandhi or Jesus?
Get Blessed
Get Uncursed
Supernatural Immunity: The Mind & Way Of Christ
The Whole Council of God
Spiritual Warfare
Practical Examples of Spiritually Based Solutions
Locational Matters
The Best Place to Live
Where Not to Live
Should you relocate?
The World is Yours
The Illusion of Ownership
Mobility
G.O.O.D Project – Lessons Learned
Family Matters
Instrument of Recursive Perfection
Spouse Choice
Children
Extended Family
Friends Worth the Title are Family
Community
Legal Matters
Natural Law
The Constitution is Safe!
Jurisdiction Matters
Where is the Agreement?
It’s Hard to Be a Free Man
Unraveling Your Liberty
Financial Matters
Money is for Immunity & Purpose
Business as Extension of Purpose
Tax Penalties for Fear and Poor Planning
Mortgage Slavery, Repealed
Austrian Economics is Real Economics
Investments in Immunity & Purpose Have the Highest ROI
Asset Protection
Political Matters
Terms of “State” & “Government”
The Diversion Of Left – Right Thinking
The Votes that Matter
Optimal Government = Perfect Self-Government
The Chief Asset Of The State: Fear & Belief In It’s Necessity
All Matters of Liberty Are Related
Caveat Viator: Libertarianism and Anarchy are Aspects of a Complete Worldview
Govern Thyself Perfectly and Hold Death Dear
Perspective Matters
The Most Valuable Commodity on the Planet
Philosophers On Donuts
Terms of “Freedom” & “Liberty”
Equality & Authority
Freedom & Structure
Peace Does Not Flow From Passivity
Proof and Truth
You Can’t Beat Everything with Nothing
“Let’s Just Split the Difference and Find a Middle Ground”
Stoicism
The Opportunity in Uncertainty
If Swamp Rats Can’t be Exterminated Why Can You?
What About America?
Doing Matters
Tony Robbin’s Best Trick
Think Spiritually, Act Locally
Getting Things Done
Low Hanging Fruit
Tragic Flaws of Conventional Prepping
Expert Tips
How To Lose Without Fighting (An Outlier’s Not To-Do List)
Part 5 — Ants & The Human Mosaic
Change The World in Four Moves
Humans as an Ant Army
Move #1: Immunity
Move #2: Specialize
Move #3: Move
Move #4: Cooperate
Humanize the Best Attributes of Animals & Insects
Part 6 — Problems: Solutions
Move #2: Specialize & Pick One
Personal Concerns
Training Disguised as Education
Shortening Attention Spans
Media Agitprop
Health Concerns
Eugenics
Vaccines Vs. Immunity
Socialized Medicine
Food Fascism & GMOs
Fluoridated water
Nuclear Waste & Meltdown Disasters
Geo-Engineering
Disease(s) Cured
Spiritual Concerns
Psychopathy
Moral Relativism
Odious Debt (Slavery)
Wars of Conquest
False-Flag Attacks
End Times Decoder Rings
501c3 Churches
Locational Concerns
Agenda 21
Scientific Control Grid
Power Grid Fragility
Family Concerns
The State as Great Father
Broken Families
Legal Concerns
Patent Squelching
Webs of Undisclosed Adhesion Contracts
Drug Wars
Licensing
Militarization of Police
Surveillance State
Monopoly
Bonus: Beating Traffic Tickets
Financial Concerns
Fractional Reserve Banking (The Theft of Human Labor)
“. . . if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.” — Sun Tzu, “The Art of War”
What I’d like to do here is present Tactical Tips from these summaries in a format that can be read in 2-minutes or less. That give folks a better chance of digestion even if it takes a few reads before they ‘seep in’.
Caveat in the Age of Doublespeak
As I’ve learned from Will Grigg’s meticulously chronicled accounts, any LEO could label as “Felonious Assault” the most benevolent civilian attempt to defend oneself against wrongful, even tyrannical, police force. However, I’m convinced the “Felonious Assaults” in this study describe the actions of gangsters (Of the non-government variety) that represent the most significant civilian gun-toting threat to the average American and certainly the officers at the core of this study.
Top 5 Most Disturbing Gangsta Tactics
The five most disturbing discoveries of the FBI’s study are that these ganstas:
Have no hesitation whatsoever about pulling the trigger.
Have more experience using deadly force in “street combat” than most police.
Practice with firearms more often and shoot more accurately than the average police although tend to “Shoot for effect” without aiming in actual encounters.
Nearly 70% of gangstas were successful (In getting rounds on target) with handguns, compared to about 40% of the victim officers, the study found.
The street combat veterans (Gangstas) survived by developing a shoot-first mentality.
“If you hesitate,” one gangsta told the study’s researchers, “you’re dead. You have the instinct or you don’t. If you don’t, you’re in trouble on the street….”
Gangsta Training Film
The apparent stupidity and incompetence seen in this ‘gangsta training film’ deflects consideration of the tactics the FBI study has brings to light.
After you’re done laughing at these clowns consider the aspects of their behavior that are no laughing matter: Their shoot first mentality, shooting for effect without aiming, utter disregard for bystanders or even their own friends that could have been in the line of fire. And, notice the relative ease and carefree attitude with which they engage in their meaningless street combat.
Even a skilled armed citizen with full command of their composure and firearm would have difficulty getting off strategic, safe and legally justified shots in the situation in the video. I think such a citizen would defend themselves successfully. However, they would bear the burden of doing so within some very strict parameters.
Functioning within the narrow parameters of protecting lives is always more difficult than having no parameters, at all.
I agree with Karen De Coster that this video “is a reminder to those who carry a weapon for self-defense: consistently train with your weapon – mental preparation and defensive/combat/tactical training – so if you should ever have to engage thugs who wish to do you harm, you will have the superior preparation and skills, and the odds will be with you.”
Here’s the FBI’s conclusions about gangstas and guns after studying them for five years:
Weapon Choice
Handguns, obtained illegally in street transactions or thefts.
In contrast to media myth, none of the firearms in the study was obtained from gun shows.
What was available “was the overriding factor in weapon choice”.
None of the attackers interviewed was “hindered by any law–federal, state or local–that has ever been established to prevent gun ownership.
The gangsta’s in the study “just laughed at gun laws”.
Familiarity
The average age was 17 when they first started packing “most of the time.”
Nearly 40% of the gangstas had some type of formal firearms training, primarily from the military.
More than 80% “regularly practiced with handguns, averaging 23 practice sessions a year,”
Practice was usually in informal settings like trash dumps, rural woods, back yards and “street corners in known drug-trafficking areas.”
One spoke of being motivated to improve his gun skills by his belief that officers “go to the range two, three times a week [and] practice arms so they can hit anything.”
Officers in the study averaged 2.5 qualifications per year. Only 6 of the 50 officers reported practicing regularly with handguns apart from what their department required.
The gangstas practiced more often than the officers they assaulted, and this “may have helped increase [their] marksmanship skills,”
The gangsta quoted above about his practice motivation, for example, fired 12 rounds at an officer, striking him 3 times. The officer fired 7 rounds, all misses.
More than 40% of the gangstas had been involved in actual shooting confrontations before they feloniously assaulted an officer.
Ten of these “street combat veterans,” all from “inner-city, drug-trafficking environments,” had taken part in 5 or more “criminal firefight experiences” in their lifetime.
One reported that he was 14 when he was first shot on the street, “about 18 before a cop shot me.”
Another said getting shot was a pivotal experience “because I made up my mind no one was gonna shoot me again.”
Only eight of the 50 LEO victims had participated in a prior shooting; 1 had been involved in 2 previously, another in 3. Seven of the 8 had killed gangstas.
Concealment
The gangstas said they most often hid guns on their person in the front waistband, with the groin area and the small of the back nearly tied for second place.
Some occasionally gave their weapons to another person to carry, “most often a female companion.”
None regularly used a holster, and about 40% at least sometimes carried a backup weapon.
In motor vehicles, they most often kept their firearm readily available on their person, or, less often, under the seat.
In residences, most stashed their weapon under a pillow, on a nightstand, under the mattress–somewhere within immediate reach while in bed.
Almost all carried when on the move and strong majorities did so when socializing, committing crimes or being at home.
About one-third brought weapons with them to work.
Interestingly, the gangstas in this study more commonly admitted having guns under all these circumstances than did gangstas interviewed in the researchers’ earlier 2 surveys, conducted in the 1980s and ’90s.
Male gangstas said time and time again that female officers tend to search them more thoroughly than male officers.
In prison, most of the gangstas were more afraid to carry contraband or weapons when a female CO was on duty.
On the street, however, both male and female officers too often regard female subjects “as less of a threat, assuming that they are not going to have a gun.
In truth, the researchers concluded that more female gangstas are armed today than 20 years ago–“not just female gang associates, but female gangstas generally.”
Shooting Style
Twenty-six of the gangstas [about 60%], including all of the street combat veterans, “claimed to be instinctive shooters, pointing and firing the weapon without consciously aligning the sights”.
Gangstas frequently “Practice getting the gun out and using it”.
Gangstas “Shoot for effect.” Or as one of the gangstas put it: “We’re not working with no marksmanship….We just putting it in your direction, you know….It don’t matter…as long as it’s gonna hit you…if it’s up at your head or your chest, down at your legs, whatever….Once I squeeze and you fall, then…if I want to execute you, then I could go from there.”
Hit Rate
More often than the officers they attacked, gangstas delivered at least some rounds on target in their encounters.
Nearly 70% of gangstas were successful (In getting rounds on target) with handguns, compared to about 40% of the victim officers, the study found. (Efforts of gangstas and officers to get on target were considered successful if any rounds struck, regardless of the number fired).
Gangstas “Might have had an advantage because in all but 3 cases they fired first, usually catching the officer by surprise”.
“10 of the total victim officers had been wounded [and thus impaired] before they returned gunfire at their attackers.”
Missed Cues
Officers would less likely be caught off guard by attackers if they were more observant of indicators of concealed weapons, the study concludes.
These particularly include manners of dress, ways of moving and unconscious gestures often related to carrying.
“Officers should look for unnatural protrusions or bulges in the waist, back and crotch areas,” the study says, and watch for “shirts that appear rippled or wavy on one side of the body while the fabric on the other side appears smooth.”
In warm weather, multilayered clothing inappropriate to the temperature may be a giveaway.
On cold or rainy days, a subject’s jacket hood may not be covering his head because it is being used to conceal a handgun.
Because they eschew holsters, gangstas reported frequently touching a concealed gun with hands or arms “to assure themselves that it is still hidden, secure and accessible” and hasn’t shifted”.
Such gestures are especially noticeable “whenever individuals change body positions, such as standing, sitting or exiting a vehicle”.
If they run, they may need to keep a constant grip on a hidden gun to control it.
Just as cops generally blade their body to make their sidearm less accessible, armed criminals “do the same in encounters with LEOs to ensure concealment and easy access.”
Officers who are assigned to look for concealed weapons, while working off-duty security at night clubs for instance, are often highly proficient at detecting them. “But then when they go back to the street without that specific assignment, they seem to ‘turn off’ that skill,” and thus are startled–sometimes fatally–when a suspect suddenly produces a weapon and attacks.
Mind-Set
Thirty-six of the 50 officers in the study had “experienced hazardous situations where they had the legal authority” to use deadly force “but chose not to shoot.” They averaged 4 such prior incidents before the encounters that the researchers investigated.
“It appeared clear that none of these officers were willing to use deadly force against an gangsta if other options were available”.
The gangstas were of a different mind-set entirely. In fact, the study team “did not realize how cold blooded the younger generation of gangsta is. They have been exposed to killing after killing, they fully expect to get killed and they don’t hesitate to shoot anybody, including a police officer.
They can go from riding down the street saying what a beautiful day it is to killing in the next instant.
“gangstas typically displayed no moral or ethical restraints in using firearms”.
The street combat veterans (Gangstas) survived by developing a shoot-first mentality.
