TX:Holes in DHS Houston Air Rifle and SWAT Story

Gun Watch ^ | 23 February, 2013 | Dean Weingarten

[mountn man]

what he thought was a telescopically high-powered rifle so he called the sheriff.

What exactly is a telescopically high-powered rifle?

Does the telescope make it more high powered?

[marktwain]

“What exactly is a telescopically high-powered rifle?

Does the telescope make it more high powered?”

I have come to expect reporters and reporterettes to be ignorant about guns. Many in “law enforcement” types only know enough to get through a basic qualification course.

[TigersEye]

A neighbor kid shot a window of mine with a BB some years ago. Popped out a conical shard of glass inside and left a hole just slightly bigger than the BB.

[marktwain]

“A neighbor kid shot a window of mine with a BB some years ago. Popped out a conical shard of glass inside and left a hole just slightly bigger than the BB.”

Yes, I have seen a lot of holes like that, clearly done by BB guns.

I do not believe that these holes were made by BB guns.

[TigersEye]

I don’t think so either. I think an air gun pellet would have much the same result as a BB. Just an opinion but the damage looks like it was made by a larger object at a lower velocity.

[yarddog]

This is a .22 caliber Daisy pumper. It is not one of my most powerful air rifles but it would put a hole through glass at close range. At longer ranges I am not so sure. I could see someone not knowledgeable on guns mistaking it for a powder burner. I have a Crosman which looks just like an M4. I have a Diana model 48 which is one of the most powerful springers on the market. No doubt it would blast glass or put a hole in it. There are plenty of exotic air rifles which are on a par with centerfire rifles but that is not what he was using I am sure.

[smokingfrog]

The news report said there had been some squatters in the neighborhood. There appears to be a smaller hole on the inside pane of glass and the outer glass is broken-out. That would lead me to believe that the window was broken from the inside.

[eartrumpet]

Perhaps other freepers have experience with air rifle pellets impacting glass and can shed light on the above holes.

Maybe, maybe not. What's the statute of limitations in case Ma is reading this?

[Stalwart]

Does not look like damage from an air rifle pellet.

More like slingshot. A ball bearing or steel nut loosed from up to several hundred feet away. It could have even bounced off pavement before striking. The first hole pictured has a weird up-angle look to it.

I remember reading that Houston has potential for floods, as the terrain is flat. A new development would have a series of swales to catch and divert runoff. The little devils could hide there.

[marktwain]

“Maybe, maybe not. What’s the statute of limitations in case Ma is reading this?”

I believe 5 years after high school graduation is a reasonable period.

[marktwain]

“More like slingshot. A ball bearing or steel nut loosed from up to several hundred feet away. It could have even bounced off pavement before striking. The first hole pictured has a weird up-angle look to it.”

Yes, I saw that as well, but not being there when the picture was taken, I was not sure how much might be camera angle.

Still, that hole appears to be well over four feet above the ground.

[smokingfrog]

I only have experience shooting arrows through windows, myself, but Ma knew about that right away!

[Usagi_yo]

It was slightly larger than a Morgan Dollar.

[marktwain]

“It was slightly larger than a Morgan Dollar”

That sounds suspiciously close to what we are seeing in the above photographs. Was the glass fairly thin on the 9 pane window? I have a theory that thin glass might fracture in a way to make a fairly round hole like that. It is hard to be sure, but the glass in the pictures looks thinner than .2 inches, maybe even less than .125.

[Usagi_yo]

The pane of glass was supposed to be very old, I thought it was thinnish, but that’s really taxing my recollection.

[Real Cynic No More]

I have shot pellets through glass before. Didn’t get a hole that big.

[nvscanman]

Where is the projectile .....a pellet passing through a window loses much of it’s energy. It’s not going to go too
far after that and certainly will not penetrate an interior wall. It should be childs play to find that pellet....If it
actually exists.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Something a lot bigger than a pellet broke that glass.

[Texas Fossil]

Glass breakage looks like result of a rock that was thrown at the window.

Now this leads to some other questions of the “off duty DHS agent”.

What was he thinking?

[marktwain]

Yes, it should be easy to find what broke the window where the agent was.