The Scout, the suspect and the SWAT team Shooting:

Baltimore Sun ^ | 18 March 2002 | Gail Gibson, Michael James and Laura Barnhardt

[Lloyd227]

On March 1, FBI agents had a clear plan to catch a man wanted in a bank robbery. What unfolded was a remarkable series of mix-ups with a near-fatal outcome.

The order from an FBI commander to a SWAT team waiting outside a Glen Burnie 7-Eleven was simple and direct.

"Follow the red car."

To FBI Special Agent Christopher Braga, it signaled that the man inside the car, the one wearing the white baseball cap, was the bank robbery suspect agents had been tracking. Braga, with other members of the elite FBI team, moved in to make the arrest.

[Lloyd227]

Please people, help keep the pressure on this out of control government agency.
It's time for these people to remember what "Public Servant" means.

[TAP ONLINE]

police spotted Blottenberger in a Ford Escort at a Pasadena gas station. Police have said he abandoned the Escort and tried to run before he was captured

Why wasn't he shot running away? Oh, these were ill trained police officers who have more than questions to answer for an illegal shoot.

[Zorobabel]

"The suspect was not holding a weapon, although investigators said a loaded firearm was nearby. The shooting was ruled justified. "

This guy was involved in a killing of another unarmed suspect before this. A loaded firearm was "nearby." Can you say trigger happy cowboy? I knew you could.

[csvset]

Geez Louise. Blottenberger, the air pistol bandit, hardly seems worthy of a FBI SWAT team. Notice also how the use of a snitch results in a bungled operation. Over the years, there have been quite a few stories of bungled raids, (i.e. wrong homes raided, innocent people terrorized), all on the word of an "informant".

The FBI SWAT team is an accident waiting to happen. Do they have a logo? A motto? Something with Skull and crossbones would be fitting. Perhaps a motto of "They're all "clean shoots" sooner or later."

[arthurus]

Can you say trigger happy cowboy?

Trigger happy cowboy and a "drop" gun.

[Boonie Rat]

A private detective working with Weiner and Weltchek said last week that two agents in the Baltimore office had told him privately that the incident would be considered justified and discouraged him from investigating further.

Of course it's a "clean shoot", the FiBbIe works for the government. Waco, Ruby Ridge, etc.,ad nausium, they're all "clean shoots".

Boonie Rat

MACV SOCOM, PhuBai/Hue '5-'66

[Donald Stone]

BUMP !!!!!

Thanks for posting this.

[Zorobabel]

"Trigger happy cowboy and a "drop" gun. "

You noticed that too huh?

[bvw]

This is a PR spin article, imho. What shows it is that gun detail in the article -- the author goes to great pains to associate it in the reader's mind with a "semi-automatic" handgun, describes the colors, yet never mentions that it is an air gun. At other places in the article there are other "convenient" or spin suggestions -- all to mitigate the FBI's actions.

[Zorobabel]

bttt

[Fred Mertz]

Any sudden movement that could have been perceived as a threat could ean the shooting - even if there were mistakes - is justified.

Sneeze and you're Swiss cheese...according to this apologist article.

Bottomline, an unarmed man was shot in the face and nearly killed by a trigger-happy Gestapo agent. What's so difficult to understand about this?

[Lloyd227]

"This is a PR spin article, imho"

You're absolutely right. Worse yet, this is the only paper I can find that's giving this story ANY coverage at all.

Don't let the pressure on them ease up or this is sure to become a "clean shoot"

[bvw]

Harkum and Schultz have said the agents ordered them to put their hands in the air and to get out of the car. But that point also is in dispute: Investigators say the agents firmly deny telling Schultz or Harkum to get out.

Gee, who to believe, an Eagle Scout or four FBI agents?

[Demidog]

Soon after joining the team, Braga was involved with two other law enforcement officers in the fatal shooting of a murder suspect in Laurel, FBI officials have confirmed. The suspect was not holding a weapon, although investigators said a loaded firearm was nearby. The shooting was ruled justified.

Yeah. Of course. It seems that anything they do is "justified."

[drjimmy]

A few hours later, King and his girlfriend searched the basement of their Curtis Bay rowhouse and found two black-and-silver air pistols under a television cabinet.

[Demidog]

Something with Skull and crossbones would be fitting.

I'm thinking swastika.

[Demidog]

That makes me think that perhaps King was involved in the robbery.....but that's just me...

[Unicorn]

BTTT

[bvw]

Yes, that is correct. I missed it. I was too quick on the trigger.

But I wasn't holding an assault rifle a few feet away from some honest citizen's head.

[Dukie]

A remarkble series of mixups

Here's the Baltimore Sun's spin on the Joe Schultz shooting.