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Bad information leads police to wrong house; bullets fly
Minneapolis Star Tribune ^ | December 16, 2007 | Patrick Kennedy

Posted on 12/17/2007 8:37:42 AM PST by Ken H

Police blamed bad information for sending a SWAT team into a north Minneapolis house early Sunday morning in a raid that ended with shots exchanged between police -- who were struck by bullets -- and the resident, who said he was just defending his family.

The homeowner, who does not speak English, told his brother that he thought the police were the "bad guys" after they broke through the back door of the house, where he lives with his wife and six children. He fired and hit two police officers, who were not injured thanks to their bullet-proof vests and helmets, police said in a statement.

The Police Department's SWAT team was trying to search the two-story house at 12:46 a.m. in the 1300 block of Logan Avenue N., as part of an investigation by the Violent Offender Task Force. But police said that they learned later that bad information led them to that house.

"It was found out that this particular address was not part of that long-term investigation," police spokesman Sgt. Jesse Garcia III told KSTP-TV on Sunday. He told KMSP-TV that it was a "bad situation."

-snip-

Vang and his children, who range in age from 3 to 15, were shaken, Dao Vang said. "All these gunshots in the house. They don't know what's going on. Flying bullets in the house and they just cried," he said.

Garcia told KMSP that police grabbed the family's children and shielded them during the incident.

Garcia did not return repeated calls from the Star Tribune on Sunday. Questions about the shooting on Sunday night were referred to Lt. Amelia Huffman, head of the homicide unit, who also did not return calls.

(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: badcopnodonut; banglist; donttasemebro; donutwatch; swat
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To: clamper1797
before some innocent person is killed ...

Huh? Thousands of innocents have already been killed in an "Epidemic of Isolated Incidents."

http://www.cato.org/raidmap/index.php#

41 posted on 12/17/2007 9:10:49 AM PST by dashing doofus (Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber)
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To: ClearCase_guy; Ken H
Did they kill the dog?

Who, the cops or the family? They apparently were Vietnamese, ya know, and it was after the dinner hour.

42 posted on 12/17/2007 9:11:28 AM PST by rmh47 (Go Kats! - Got Seven? [NRA Life Member])
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To: Wonder Warthog

Son first, then wife was shot in the face by one of the Feds. The baby lived. I saw them on television a few months back. The daughter was grown up and moved away, and the younger baby wouldn’t go on TV for some reason. (She’s a young adult now if I remember right). Weaver still lives in the same house.


43 posted on 12/17/2007 9:11:49 AM PST by Rick.Donaldson (http://www.transasianaxis.com - Visit for lastest on DPRK/Russia/China/Etc --Fred Thompson for Prez.)
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To: READINABLUESTATE
They are saying on the radio here that the man has been questioned and released. His family is considering a legal action.

They ought to sue the bastards for all they're worth.

You don't go smashing into someone's home in the middle of the night heavily armed without GOOD, CONFIRMED intel.

44 posted on 12/17/2007 9:12:19 AM PST by Luke Skyfreeper
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To: clamper1797

I was hoping your were. Now I know you were.


45 posted on 12/17/2007 9:13:42 AM PST by unixfox (The 13th Amendment Abolished Slavery, The 16th Amendment Reinstated It !)
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To: Ken H

I was just laughing the other night when I read in a local newspaper where the small police department just received a (I forgot the correct name of it) bascially an Army tank.

I’m serious, a tank.

A few years ago the SWAT team in Franklin TN kicked in the door (a wrong address) in the middle of the night, and when the homeowner grabbed his gun they shot him dead. This is happening too frequently.

If these guys want to play Army why don’t we send them down to protect the US/Mexican border with all their equipment, especially considering the Border Patrol is always complaining about not having enough money/equipment.


46 posted on 12/17/2007 9:16:07 AM PST by girlangler (Fish Fear Me)
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To: live+let_live
"The SWAT team stopped, in the heat of the action, before something really bad happened."

Kind of like the Arlington, Texas SWAT who had a confirmed armed, triple murder suspect surrounded on the street and allowed him to drive off with out firing a shot.

47 posted on 12/17/2007 9:19:25 AM PST by Deaf Smith
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To: Ken H
If the authorities are really serious about ending junk like this, here are some ideas:

1) Demilitarise the police except for very specific, legally-defined circumstances. We don't need cops running around with body armour and automatic weapons pretending like they're soldiers while they kick in doors of private dwellings.

2) Make the cops actually abide by the Constitution. Get a warrant, and serve the warrant. Don't just bust down doors on a bogus "warrantless entry" action.

3) Corroborate informant information with evidence from other sources. We don't know that's what happened here, but it's often the case that police act on "tips" from people with grudges against the victim, and the cops don't check into it since they're hoping to score a big drug bust so they can get that new department "anti-drug boat" just in time for summer.

48 posted on 12/17/2007 9:22:16 AM PST by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus ("Hi, My name is Mitt, and I invented the fifty dollar abortion!")
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To: Ken H

Militarized “Law Enforcement*” has become the “standing army” our Founders feared.

*a phrase that is so common it has lost its Orwellian essence.


49 posted on 12/17/2007 9:23:58 AM PST by Atlas Sneezed ("We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts; I support them, I won't chip away at them" -Mitt Romney)
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To: Ken H

The only way the jackboots will even consider changing their paramilitary tactics is if a few of their spec-ops wannabes meet an ugly end. ...and it’s bound to happen sooner or later. Oh yeah, and if enough PDs are successfully sued. I hope Vang is consulting an attorney right now.


50 posted on 12/17/2007 9:23:59 AM PST by Mr. Mojo
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To: clamper1797

before? more like before more...


51 posted on 12/17/2007 9:28:19 AM PST by Gilbo_3 (A few Rams must look after the sheep 'til the Good Shepherd returns...)
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To: Rick.Donaldson
ANYONE can SHOUT ‘POLICE!’ can’t they moron?... SWAT belongs at hostage situations and KNOWN bad guys being holed up after an LE contact, not kicking in doors in the middle of the night.

Exactly right.

Anybody breaking into my house at night can yell whatever they want. It's a known tactics criminals sometimes do yell "POLICE!" to gain unopposed entry in an innocent victim house. You can also buy shirts that read 'POLICE' on the internet.

I'm afraid in this situation I would go down, but I would take a few with me. I would hope they aren't LEOs at the wrong address, but if they are, it's their own fault.

It would be a tragedy for my family as well as theirs.

What's wrong with presenting a warrant peaceably instead of breaking in one second after screaming "WARRANT, POLICE!" at 2:00 in the morning and smashing in with a gang of ninja-clad armed men?

52 posted on 12/17/2007 9:29:15 AM PST by Gritty (The right to bear arms is one more guarantee against arbitrary government-Hubert H. Humphrey)
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To: clamper1797
If the amount of drugs in question is flushable in the time it takes to serve a warrant PROPERLY ... it ain’t worth the chance of hurting an innocent.

That there is a good litmus test, clamper. Well done.

53 posted on 12/17/2007 9:32:00 AM PST by Hemingway's Ghost (Spirit of '75)
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To: meyer; clamper1797

I agree... a few more of these police home invasion of improper address ending with dead or wounded cops...... and a few multi million dollar lawsuits and this crap will stop!

LLS


54 posted on 12/17/2007 9:32:22 AM PST by LibLieSlayer (Support America, Kill terrorists, Destroy dims and vote Fred!)
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To: Ken H
The homeowner, who does not speak English, told his brother that he thought the police were the "bad guys.."

Sadly, he was right!

55 posted on 12/17/2007 9:33:41 AM PST by FroedrickVonFreepenstein
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To: Dick Vomer
“How come they don’t do this to the MS-13, Crips, Blood, LK’s or Mexican Mafia? They KNOW they’ve got drugs and guns.”

They would run into more than some scared homeowner with a 12ga. and then their toys would be really be put to the test. More than the homeowner and dog would be down. A PR SWAT bust makes for good video on the evening news. The lack of pre-raid intelligence in these situations amazes me. Perhaps they should consider calling a local cab company first so they could at least get the right address.

56 posted on 12/17/2007 9:34:12 AM PST by Polynikes (Hey. I got a question. How are you planning to get back down that hill?)
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To: Dick Vomer
How come they don't do this to the MS-13, Crips, Blood, LK's or Mexican Mafia? They KNOW they've got drugs and guns.

On the show COPS, they're always stopping some car down the street leaving a "known drug house." Always wondered why they don't just bust the drug house?

57 posted on 12/17/2007 9:38:44 AM PST by scan59 (Let consumers dictate market policies. Government just gets in the way.)
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To: meyer
This Gestapo crap needs to end before some innocent person is killed ... I stand in agreement. There is no reason for these types of raids unless someone's life in in imminent and immediate danger.

Its exactly crap like this that caused me to start question the way on drugs.and your right the only reason for swat type raids is immediate danger to hostages or the public

58 posted on 12/17/2007 9:38:47 AM PST by Charlespg (Peace= When we trod the ruins of Mecca and Medina under our infidel boots.)
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To: Charlespg

question the war


59 posted on 12/17/2007 9:40:06 AM PST by Charlespg (Peace= When we trod the ruins of Mecca and Medina under our infidel boots.)
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To: Ken H
Lt. Amelia Huffman, head of the homicide unit

That could be your problem right there.

60 posted on 12/17/2007 9:43:13 AM PST by SamuraiScot
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