O/T Prayers for an innocent Man Shot

[Jeff OTMG]

One correction, strictly speaking, the M14 is a main battle rifle and not an assault rifle. The former Marine, turned FBI, was armed with the M4 carbine, an updated version of the CAR-15/XM177E2 project from Vietnam days and is a variant of the military M16 assault rifle. This is a link to a photo of the entire M4 system including the M203 grenade launcher and PVS4 night vision sighting system http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/M4w-att.jpg

As far as laying blame where due, I consider it quite appropriate. This was NOT an accident. The gun did not accidentally go off. The agent intentionally pulled the trigger. This was an avoidable incident due to inadequate or faulty training. This is not the first time something like this has happened with gung ho former military FBI agents. Randy Weaver's unarmed wife was shot and killed while holding her baby by FBI sniper Lon Horuchi(sp?). These personnel are 'experts', as doctors are considered experts in medicine, and as experts they are held to a higher standard of care regarding their actions. When they fail in this care people die and that is unacceptable. As I stated earlier, this was not an acceptable use for FBI SWAT trained personnel.
No snap judgement on my part. I grew up around this my entire life. My father spent 9 years Air Force OSI then 21 years FBI and was part of a counter airline hijack unit. I know when mistakes are made. There is no excuse that can justify the shooting in the face of 20 year old Eagle Scouts at roadblocks manned by FBI SWAT members. I would cut them much more slack if this was the first time something like this had happened. It wasn't. My fear is that still nothing will be done to keep it from happening again.

I believe that the victim will survive, he must be stabilized and evaluations done before any of the multiple surguries he will need may begin. You can bet that this incident will have a profound effect on how he will be able to live his life for many years to come.

[James]

Thanks Jeff for making the clarification between the M-14, a rifle that was phased our duting the Vietnam Era, and the M-4 Assault Rifle. I was about to post about it lol.

Also, keep in mind what Jeff seems to be saying: different units have different training goals, that are tasked for specific missions.

So its easier for things to go wrong when the a Unit is given a mission that their training doesn't fit the profile.

Also, in this case, there are agencies who's training and mission are meant for this type of activity.

Imagine sending a regiment of regular soldiers to disperse a rioting crowd?

[James]

Details unfold in FBI mix-up

Agents had photo of real suspect before shooting other man; Revealed in affidavit; They also knew pellet gun not real one apparently was used in robbery

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Gail Gibson

Sun Staff

Originally published March 13, 2002


FBI agents involved in the mistaken traffic stop and shooting of an unarmed Pasadena man March 1 had a photograph of the actual bank robbery suspect they sought and earlier that day had discovered that an air pistol, not a handgun, apparently was used in the holdup, court records show.


Those details, contained in an FBI affidavit in the bank robbery case, could play a central role in the investigations into the shooting of Joseph C. Schultz, as authorities examine how much federal agents knew about the real suspect they were tracking and how dangerous they thought he was.


Schultz, 20, was shot in the face with an M-4 rifle after FBI agents stopped the car his girlfriend was driving that day. In a case of mistaken identity, the agents thought Schultz was the man they sought, but Schultz had no connection to the crime or to the suspect. Schultz, who is expected to survive, remained in fair condition yesterday at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center.


FBI and Anne Arundel County police officials have released few details about the traffic stop and shooting, saying that could hurt continuing federal and local investigations. ***yeah right!! I'm an idiot ... not*** But the FBI affidavit, connected to the arrest March 3 of bank robbery suspect Michael J. Blottenberger Jr., provides new information about the police search that preceded the shooting.


An FBI spokesman declined yesterday to comment directly on the affidavit, but suggested that whether or not a real handgun was used in the robbery did not diminish the threat that agents believed Blottenberger posed as they searched for him March 1.

In the document, FBI Special Agent Lawrence S. Brosnan, a 24-year veteran of the FBI and the lead investigator in the robbery case, said two bank tellers reported that the robber brandished a silver-and-black handgun that day as he forced them to empty their cash drawers. Court records say the robber left with $24,324 clutched in his fists and arms and climbed into a green Ford pickup. ***reminder- the Eagle Scout was in a small red sedan when his face was shot off***

FBI officials have declined to release a photograph of Blottenberger. The affidavit says Brosnan obtained a 1998 mug shot that he displayed, along with bank surveillance photos, in interviews with people who helped link Blottenberger to the crime. ***They had pictures of the real robber and still shot the kid***


Brosnan was among the agents looking for Blottenberger on March 1, when Schultz was mistakenly stopped. Another FBI agent, CHRISTOPHER BRAGA, shot Schultz that day.


Among the individuals Brosnan interviewed in the days leading up to the shooting was Blottenberger's landlord. Timothy King told authorities March 1 that in a conversation shortly after midnight that morning, Blottenberger said he had driven the getaway car in a bank robbery -- a claim he also made to FBI agents after his arrest, the affidavit said.


King told authorities that he then ordered Blottenberger to leave his house, the affidavit said. Soon after Blottenberger left, King and a woman searched the house and found two silver air pistols, which resembled handguns, tucked under a television cabinet in the basement. An air gun relies on a compressed air system to propel projectiles, such as pellets or paint balls, and is generally considered far less lethal than a semi-automatic handgun.


A Baltimore police officer and Brosnan went to King's house that morning -- hours before federal agents searching for Blottenberger shot Schultz -- and seized the two (air) pistols.

In the affidavit, Brosnan wrote that after comparing the air pistols to the bank surveillance photos, he was "of the opinion that the pistol displayed by the bank robber is similar, if not identical, to the pistols discovered" at the house where Blottenberger had been staying.

Copyright © 2002, The Baltimore Sun

[SAEalumnus]

you see, it's hard to be judgemental when you speak the truth!

I'm not at all surprised by what I just read.

[Jeff OTMG]

More info. In typical FBI fashion since an agent pulled the trigger it was a good shoot. Guess that Eagle Scout was really a bad guy and the media is lying to us. One cannot imagine the contempt I feel for the arrogance shown by the Bureau in this case. How can they explain this away?

http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/b...ot15mar15.story

Agents said to oppose inquiry
Investigator says he was discouraged from probing FBI shooting
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Gail Gibson
Sun Staff
Originally published March 15, 2002

Two senior agents from the FBI's Baltimore office told a private detective yesterday that the mistaken shooting of an unarmed Pasadena man likely would be ruled a "clean shoot," and discouraged him from looking into the case further, the investigator said in an interview.
Dudley F.B. "Butch" Hodgson, a former FBI agent who has been retained by the shooting victim's lawyers, said he was told by one of the agents: "There's no middle ground in this thing. You're either with us or against us."

A top FBI official said late yesterday that the investigation into the shooting March 1 of Joseph C. Schultz is far from complete and that any remarks made by the agents to Hodgson "clearly reflect their own personal opinions" - not the FBI's official position.

"The official agency position is we would not do anything to discourage the people aggrieved here from pursuing every option open to them," said Assistant Director John E. Collingwood, a spokesman with FBI headquarters in Washington.

Hodgson was hired Monday by attorneys representing Schultz, who was shot in the face after FBI agents searching for a bank robber two weeks ago mistakenly pulled over the car Schultz's girlfriend was driving. Schultz, whose right jaw was shattered by a bullet from an agent's M-4 rifle, was released from the hospital this week but faces a series of reconstructive surgeries.

FBI officials have apologized for the shooting and promised a full investigation into what was an apparent case of mistaken identity. Investigators from FBI headquarters are conducting one review, which will be forwarded to the Justice Department's civil rights division. Anne Arundel County police are conducting a separate probe, to be reviewed by local prosecutors.

Hodgson began his own investigation this week for attorneys Arnold M. Weiner and Robert J. Welchek, who represent Schultz. After three days on the case, Hodgson said, he received two calls early yesterday from longtime agents in the Baltimore office, calls that he described as attempts to get him to leave the case.

"They say the office opinion on this case is, 'It's a good shooting,'" Hodgson told The Sun yesterday. "I said, 'Fine. If that's the case, the facts are going to come out and show that.'"

But Hodgson, who worked undercover and violent crime cases during his two decades in the Baltimore FBI office, said he also told his former colleagues: "I don't understand how the office can think it's a good shoot, because everything I've seen indicates that it's not."

Hodgson said he received calls from Sam Wichner, firearms instructor for the Baltimore office, and from Jim Ellis, a supervisor in the Calverton office, which reports to the Baltimore field office. Wichner and Ellis did not return phone calls seeking comment. Their supervisor, Lynne A. Hunt, special agent in charge of the Baltimore office, was out of town and not available for comment.

Collingwood, at FBI headquarters, stressed that the shooting investigation intentionally excluded agents assigned to the Baltimore office in order to be fully "independent of anyone who would have any emotional or personal interest in the outcome in the case."

At the local level, Anne Arundel County Police Chief P. Thomas Shanahan also has promised an independent review, free of pressure from federal authorities. He said he also has met with Hunt and investigators from Washington who promised to fully cooperate with the local police probe.

In a recent interview, Shanahan said he told the police captain on duty March 1: "Don't worry about the FBI. Stay focused on your obligation to Anne Arundel County and you won't go wrong.'"

Weiner and Welchek, prominent Lutherville attorneys accustomed to high-profile cases, said yesterday that the individual calls to Hodgson raise concerns about the integrity of the FBI investigation - a question that Collingwood said would be reviewed.

"Instead of looking inward at their own deficiencies that led to this awful thing to happen, they're turning outward to try to intimidate people," Weiner said.

Hodgson said that Wichner warned him that he would "end up looking pretty silly" once the shooting was ruled justified. In the call from Ellis, Hodgson said, he was told that he would be blocked from social interaction with his former FBI colleagues and friends if he worked on this case. Hodgson said it was Ellis who warned, "There's no middle ground on this thing. You're either with us or against us."

Hodgson said he was angered by the calls, but undeterred.

"We're going to see this thing through," he said. "And the chips are going to fall where they may."

Sun staff writer Laura Barnhardt contributed to this article.

Copyright © 2002, The Baltimore Sun

[James]

FBI shooting settled
Arundel man mistaken as robber in high-profile '02 case
By Matthew Dolan
Sun reporter
Originally published July 7, 2007
More than five years after an FBI agent mistakenly shot an unarmed Anne Arundel County man, the federal government has agreed to pay the injured victim $1.3 million, according to sources familiar with the settlement agreement.

The planned payout will end one of the more alarming chapters in the recent history of the bureau's Baltimore field office. Veteran FBI agent Christopher R. Braga mistook the 20-year-old from Pasadena for a bank robber and shot him in the head using an M-4 assault rifle.


Court documents, interviews and testimony during the civil case showed that an extraordinary array of coincidences led to a near-fatal calamity for Joseph C. Schultz. FBI agents had been searching for a bank robber when they stopped the car being driven by Schultz's girlfriend, Kristen M. Harkum. Believing Schultz was reaching for a gun, Braga opened fire.

Schultz's jaw was shattered by the bullet during the March 1, 2002, shooting, but he survived and underwent reconstructive surgery to repair his face.

Harkum, 16 at the time, was sitting next to Schultz and was not struck by gunfire. She received a $350,000 settlement, sources said. Her lawyer confirmed that the case has been settled but declined to name the amount.

"This was a drawn-out and difficult process to get the government to acknowledge the grievous errors that were committed by the FBI," her attorney, Steven A. Allen, said yesterday. "Krissy Harkum was a young high school student when she was forced to endure a traumatic and terrifying event that no innocent child should have to experience."

Schultz's attorney, Arnold M. Weiner, acknowledged the agreement yesterday but provided no details.

Two sources familiar with Schultz's agreement, which is signed by all the parties, said the settlement is not complete because the Pasadena man has not been paid.

Weiner said: "This was an important case, and it was important that an innocent civilian's rights be vindicated."

Schultz and Harkum, no longer dating, still live in the area, but Harkum continues to struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to court records. Through their attorneys, they declined to comment.

In the agreements with both victims, the government does not admit to wrongdoing in the shooting, sources said. "This agreement is not, is in no way intended to be, and should not be construed as, an admission of liability or fault on the part of Christopher Braga, the FBI and United States," Schultz's agreement reads, according to a source who has a copy.

The settlements are not filed in U.S. District Court, because the overall case was dismissed by Judge J. Frederick Motz on June 15 after all of the parties committed to resolve the case without a trial.

FBI officials in Baltimore and Washington declined to discuss the details of the settlements, other than to confirm the resolution of the claims.

"This case has been settled. We will not discuss the amount," FBI spokesman Richard J. Kolko wrote in an e-mail yesterday.

Authorities have described the shooting as a singularly tragic case of mistaken identity: Schultz was at a store where agents expected to find the suspect, and his baseball cap and girlfriend's car loosely fit the description authorities had for the man wanted in connection with a Feb. 20, 2002, bank robbery.

The case prompted the bureau's top agent in Baltimore to apologize for the "unfortunate accident."

A grand jury in Anne Arundel County later cleared Braga of criminal wrongdoing in the shooting. But county investigators concluded that the FBI's hunt for the bank robber was hamstrung from the start by radio equipment that was faulty and outdated.

When asked about reforms possibly made after the botched traffic stop that led to the mistaken shooting, spokeswomen for the Maryland U.S. attorney's office and the FBI's Baltimore field office declined to comment yesterday.

An internal FBI probe and a separate Justice Department civil rights review of the incident also concluded that criminal charges should not be filed against Braga, according to a source who has been briefed on both documents.

Currently assigned to the FBI's New York City office, Braga did not return a voice-mail message left for him yesterday.

After the shooting, Schultz and Harkum each filed $10 million lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, arguing that their constitutional rights were violated.

In their lawsuits, Schultz and Harkum allege that the agents disregarded bureau arrest policies and then played down the potentially deadly results.

On the day of the shooting, FBI agents were looking for Michael J. Blottenberger, who was suspected of driving the getaway vehicle in the robbery of a Pasadena bank branch. The agents assumed that Blottenberger would be at a 7-Eleven convenience store, riding in a red car and wearing a white baseball cap because of information from an informant.

But the agents wrongly targeted Schultz, who had on a white cap, after he walked from the store carrying a Slurpee and a Mountain Dew and got into Harkum's red Pontiac Grand Am.

A few minutes later, two FBI vehicles forced the couple to the side of the road and four armed FBI agents approached the car.

Braga fired his M-4 rifle when Schultz moved to unlock his car door to comply with agents' orders. Braga said in court papers that he shot at Schultz when the man appeared to reach for his waist, believing that Schultz was grabbing for a weapon.

[ZetaGirl22]

Wow. The shooting victim deserved A LOT more money than 1.3 million IMO. That might not even cover all his medical bills.

[ThetaPrincess24]

Originally Posted by James

FBI shooting settled
Arundel man mistaken as robber in high-profile '02 case
By Matthew Dolan
Sun reporter
Originally published July 7, 2007
More than five years after an FBI agent mistakenly shot an unarmed Anne Arundel County man, the federal government has agreed to pay the injured victim $1.3 million, according to sources familiar with the settlement agreement.

The planned payout will end one of the more alarming chapters in the recent history of the bureau's Baltimore field office. Veteran FBI agent Christopher R. Braga mistook the 20-year-old from Pasadena for a bank robber and shot him in the head using an M-4 assault rifle.


Court documents, interviews and testimony during the civil case showed that an extraordinary array of coincidences led to a near-fatal calamity for Joseph C. Schultz. FBI agents had been searching for a bank robber when they stopped the car being driven by Schultz's girlfriend, Kristen M. Harkum. Believing Schultz was reaching for a gun, Braga opened fire.

Schultz's jaw was shattered by the bullet during the March 1, 2002, shooting, but he survived and underwent reconstructive surgery to repair his face.

Harkum, 16 at the time, was sitting next to Schultz and was not struck by gunfire. She received a $350,000 settlement, sources said. Her lawyer confirmed that the case has been settled but declined to name the amount.

"This was a drawn-out and difficult process to get the government to acknowledge the grievous errors that were committed by the FBI," her attorney, Steven A. Allen, said yesterday. "Krissy Harkum was a young high school student when she was forced to endure a traumatic and terrifying event that no innocent child should have to experience."

Schultz's attorney, Arnold M. Weiner, acknowledged the agreement yesterday but provided no details.

Two sources familiar with Schultz's agreement, which is signed by all the parties, said the settlement is not complete because the Pasadena man has not been paid.

Weiner said: "This was an important case, and it was important that an innocent civilian's rights be vindicated."

Schultz and Harkum, no longer dating, still live in the area, but Harkum continues to struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to court records. Through their attorneys, they declined to comment.

In the agreements with both victims, the government does not admit to wrongdoing in the shooting, sources said. "This agreement is not, is in no way intended to be, and should not be construed as, an admission of liability or fault on the part of Christopher Braga, the FBI and United States," Schultz's agreement reads, according to a source who has a copy.

The settlements are not filed in U.S. District Court, because the overall case was dismissed by Judge J. Frederick Motz on June 15 after all of the parties committed to resolve the case without a trial.

FBI officials in Baltimore and Washington declined to discuss the details of the settlements, other than to confirm the resolution of the claims.

"This case has been settled. We will not discuss the amount," FBI spokesman Richard J. Kolko wrote in an e-mail yesterday.

Authorities have described the shooting as a singularly tragic case of mistaken identity: Schultz was at a store where agents expected to find the suspect, and his baseball cap and girlfriend's car loosely fit the description authorities had for the man wanted in connection with a Feb. 20, 2002, bank robbery.

The case prompted the bureau's top agent in Baltimore to apologize for the "unfortunate accident."

A grand jury in Anne Arundel County later cleared Braga of criminal wrongdoing in the shooting. But county investigators concluded that the FBI's hunt for the bank robber was hamstrung from the start by radio equipment that was faulty and outdated.

When asked about reforms possibly made after the botched traffic stop that led to the mistaken shooting, spokeswomen for the Maryland U.S. attorney's office and the FBI's Baltimore field office declined to comment yesterday.

An internal FBI probe and a separate Justice Department civil rights review of the incident also concluded that criminal charges should not be filed against Braga, according to a source who has been briefed on both documents.

Currently assigned to the FBI's New York City office, Braga did not return a voice-mail message left for him yesterday.

After the shooting, Schultz and Harkum each filed $10 million lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, arguing that their constitutional rights were violated.

In their lawsuits, Schultz and Harkum allege that the agents disregarded bureau arrest policies and then played down the potentially deadly results.

On the day of the shooting, FBI agents were looking for Michael J. Blottenberger, who was suspected of driving the getaway vehicle in the robbery of a Pasadena bank branch. The agents assumed that Blottenberger would be at a 7-Eleven convenience store, riding in a red car and wearing a white baseball cap because of information from an informant.

But the agents wrongly targeted Schultz, who had on a white cap, after he walked from the store carrying a Slurpee and a Mountain Dew and got into Harkum's red Pontiac Grand Am.

A few minutes later, two FBI vehicles forced the couple to the side of the road and four armed FBI agents approached the car.

Braga fired his M-4 rifle when Schultz moved to unlock his car door to comply with agents' orders. Braga said in court papers that he shot at Schultz when the man appeared to reach for his waist, believing that Schultz was grabbing for a weapon.

I didnt think we were allowed to post copyrighted material here?