PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA — A coordinated gangland-style shooting left four women and a man dead as investigators allege that the attack came from two separate directions and specifically targeted a late-night backyard barbecue. Pittsburgh police are being assisted by state investigators and forensics as they try to piece together the motive of this brutal assault.
via FOX News
“The murders were planned. They were calculated, brutal,” District Attorney Stephen Zappala said of the Wednesday nighttime shootings in Wilkinsburg.
Police were able to piece together that the attackers used heavier caliber 7.62 x 39mm rounds and reportedly “aimed high” (head shots). Both must have had some experience because they basically herded the entire group into a kill zone on the back porch where most of the victims died.
“It looks like right now they were all fleeing toward the back door of the residence when the second gunman fired from the side of the yard,” said Lt. Andrew Schurman of the Allegheny County homicide unit. “They all seemed to get caught on the back porch.”
It really doesn’t matter if drugs were involved or not. They most likely were but that part really doesn’t matter. We’re dealing with more heavy hitters out there, these days. And these guys aren’t interested in taking prisoners or giving anyone the benefit of the doubt. Police allege that one of the shooters specifically targeted a few of the victims but the remainder were pretty much caught being “in the wrong place, at the wrong time.”
As concealed carriers, we have to realize that throughout our travels, we don’t always know the company that we break bread with. And as such, it is incumbent upon us to maintain a level head and a steady state of situational awareness. Never assume anything.
These shooters acted with a type of coordination and precision that is absolutely deadly in a real-life scenario. When people panic, they bunch up into a herd and they act like animals. In an active shooter environment, don’t bunch up and cluster. Look for cover and hopefully concealment. Return fire judiciously. Spraying and praying does not work. As the Marine Corps Rifleman’s creed loves to remind us,
“My rifle and I know that what counts in war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit…”
I love backyard barbecues as much as the next red-blooded American male. In an upcoming article, let’s discuss a few very simple pistol techniques that will give you the option of hopefully being able to get some hits down range when it really matters.