McGowen Shooting

[Deleted]

In a previous discussion on the VR, I mentioned that I had read - somewhere - that the VR was wearing a "ski mask" on the night of the McGowen shooting. I said I would try to find my source. With help from a board member, I have found a December 11, 1975 Visalia Times-Delta article that describes some of the details of the entire McGowen incident. I have failed at posting the article, so far, but am still working on it. Anyway, here are some quotes on the details of the McGowen shooting:

"...at 8:38 PM when the prowler dived over a fence and fired one shot at McGowen from close range, piercing the officer's flashlight. Moments before, the policeman had fired a warning shot.

McGowen was stunned and knocked down. He sustained powder burns to his right eye, but otherwise was said to be in good shape.

He observed a man pass by a side window, then walk into the garage....

The officer rose quickly and followed the man outside. By now the prowler was moving toward a back gate at the Ward yard, adjacent to the garage.

McGowen order the man to halt, but he bolted and the officer fired a warning shot into the ground.

...He had his right hand up and his left hand in the pocket of his jacket, McGowen said.  The man then dived over a fence, McGowen followed and the shot was fired by the prowler, who then fled.

The officer described the gunman a being about 25 years of age, perhaps 200 pounds, 5-feet 10-inches tall with blonde hair.  He was wearing tennis shoes, a fatigue-type jacket with a camouflage design, dark trousers with a stocking cap pulled low."

This article suggests a ski-mask that was pulled up.  Also, does the shooting say anything about the VR's marksmanship skills?  Does the article suggest he was left-handed?

EDIT:  Article now attached. (Click to enlarge.)

[redding]

Every time I here an account of that evening I always have the same reaction. Too bad McGowen didn't shoot the POS.

[pessimisticoptimist]

The information is somewhat sketchy, and it is always dangerous to draw conclusions on such information. However, it sounds like the prowler in this event showed-off a pretty impressive example of point-shooting from the hip. And, although point-shooting is difficult-enough, point-shooting with the weak-hand is even harder, so I would think that this encounter pretty-much guarantees that the perp was a lefty.

This engagement must have been extremely stressful for the prowler as he had just been surprised during what he expected to be a cold-prowl. Even though the engagement was at point-blank range, the ability of the shooter to blow-out Officer MacGowan's light and scorch his face indicates some respectable degree of marksmanship.

This would indicate to me that the shooter had to have done A LOT of practicing to hone his point-shooting skills. See www.americanrifleman.org/articles/point-shooting/ for further discussion of point-shooting skills-training.
True -- there are a few folks who are just born with the knack to be instinctive marksmen, but those are rare.

Perhaps I am giving him way too much credit, and it was just a chaotic encounter where the bad-guy got really lucky, but I kinda doubt that.

[redding]

Feb 15, 2014 5:04:16 GMT pessimisticoptimist said:

The information is somewhat sketchy, and it is always dangerous to draw conclusions on such information. However, it sounds like the prowler in this event showed-off a pretty impressive example of point-shooting from the hip. And, although point-shooting is difficult-enough, point-shooting with the weak-hand is even harder, so I would think that this encounter pretty-much guarantees that the perp was a lefty.

This engagement must have been extremely stressful for the prowler as he had just been surprised during what he expected to be a cold-prowl. Even though the engagement was at point-blank range, the ability of the shooter to blow-out Officer MacGowan's light and scorch his face indicates some respectable degree of marksmanship.

This would indicate to me that the shooter had to have done A LOT of practicing to hone his point-shooting skills. See www.americanrifleman.org/articles/point-shooting/ for further discussion of point-shooting skills-training.
True -- there are a few folks who are just born with the knack to be instinctive marksmen, but those are rare.

Perhaps I am giving him way too much credit, and it was just a chaotic encounter where the bad-guy got really lucky, but I kinda doubt that.

How accurate was this shot? Are you saying that he was aiming at the light?  To me it would seem that he was aiming directly at McGowen and he missed at point blank range. I agree that it does seem to indicate that he was left handed.  

[pessimisticoptimist]

Feb 15, 2014 6:56:11 GMT redding said:

Feb 15, 2014 5:04:16 GMT pessimisticoptimist said:

The information is somewhat sketchy, and it is always dangerous to draw conclusions on such information. However, it sounds like the prowler in this event showed-off a pretty impressive example of point-shooting from the hip. And, although point-shooting is difficult-enough, point-shooting with the weak-hand is even harder, so I would think that this encounter pretty-much guarantees that the perp was a lefty.

This engagement must have been extremely stressful for the prowler as he had just been surprised during what he expected to be a cold-prowl. Even though the engagement was at point-blank range, the ability of the shooter to blow-out Officer MacGowan's light and scorch his face indicates some respectable degree of marksmanship.

This would indicate to me that the shooter had to have done A LOT of practicing to hone his point-shooting skills. See here for further discussion of point-shooting skills-training.
True -- there are a few folks who are just born with the knack to be instinctive marksmen, but those are rare.

Perhaps I am giving him way too much credit, and it was just a chaotic encounter where the bad-guy got really lucky, but I kinda doubt that.

How accurate was this shot? Are you saying that he was aiming at the light?  To me it would seem that he was aiming directly at McGowen and he missed at point blank range. I agree that it does seem to indicate that he was left handed.  

Aiming at the light rather than at the person holding the light is instinctive and is a common tactical error in nighttime gun-fights.   It is unsurprising that the prowler made this error given that he was under a high degree of stress.

This is why LEOs commonly hold their flashlights in the overhand "ice-axe" grip -- that raises and offsets the source from the light from the cop's center-of mass (as well as enabling the officer to use his mag-light as a melee weapon). See first photo attached.  Also, the officer's powder-burn injury also would seem to confirm that he was holding his light in this manner.


If Officer McGowen had been holding his light as shown in the second attached pic, the encounter likely would have ended much worse.

[pessimisticoptimist]

Feb 15, 2014 16:44:02 GMT portofleith said:

I think it is also interesting that Rodney Miller's shooter dropped to his knees and waited for Miller to clear the fence to shoot him.

That suggests some training to me.

Most definitely an indication of training. 

    Plus a cool-headed mindset that enabled him to implement that training in a high-stress environment.

[Deleted]

Feb 15, 2014 16:44:02 GMT portofleith said:

I think it is also interesting that Rodney Miller's shooter dropped to his knees and waited for Miller to clear the fence to shoot him.

That suggests some training to me.

VR and EAR/ONS do not risk physical confrontations with males, do they (or he)?  He could have taken further evasive action in all of these encounters, but he chooses to shoot - and shoot to kill - in all of the instances where a male confronts him.  I think he was shooting to kill Detective McGowen - it was just dark and, as mentioned above, he instinctively shot at the flashlight.  From the article above, it sounds like he laid in wait - similar to the Rodney Miller shooting - behind the fence he dove over - for McGowen to follow.  Why not run and dive over another fence?  With Offerman and Sanchez, who both broke free, ONS was in a position to abort and run, but he did not. 

EDIT:  There are two exceptions - the July 1979 Danville attack and October 1979 Goleta attack where he does abort and run. 

[redding]

Feb 16, 2014 16:30:37 GMT slumbergirl said:

Feb 15, 2014 16:44:02 GMT portofleith said:

I think it is also interesting that Rodney Miller's shooter dropped to his knees and waited for Miller to clear the fence to shoot him.

That suggests some training to me.

VR and EAR/ONS do not risk physical confrontations with males, do they (or he)?  He could have taken further evasive action in all of these encounters, but he chooses to shoot - and shoot to kill - in all of the instances where a male confronts him.  I think he was shooting to kill Detective McGowen - it was just dark and, as mentioned above, he instinctively shot at the flashlight.  From the article above, it sounds like he laid in wait - similar to the Rodney Miller shooting - behind the fence he dove over - for McGowen to follow.  Why not run and dive over another fence?  With Offerman and Sanchez, who both broke free, ONS was in a position to abort and run, but he did not. 

EDIT:  There are two exceptions - the July 1979 Danville attack and October 1979 Goleta attack where he does abort and run. 

I think he was trying to kill McGowen as well.  If he hit the light and McGowen had gunpowder burns then a) the flashlight was very close to McGowen's head, and b) McGowen was close to barrel of the gun.  This differs from previous accounts where it was said that McGowen was injured by shards of glass from the flash light.  In all the accounts the VR pulled the gun, pointed and shot, without aiming. You really don't need any skill to do what he did. This was a very close range encounter.  IMO it was just a desperate all or nothing act to get away. 

[redding]

If the VR did have any training I think that he would of fired several shots to increase the odds of hitting his target and to lessen the chance that McGowen would have a chance to shoot back.

[pessimisticoptimist]

Feb 17, 2014 0:15:45 GMT redding said:

Feb 16, 2014 16:30:37 GMT slumbergirl said:

VR and EAR/ONS do not risk physical confrontations with males, do they (or he)?  He could have taken further evasive action in all of these encounters, but he chooses to shoot - and shoot to kill - in all of the instances where a male confronts him.  I think he was shooting to kill Detective McGowen - it was just dark and, as mentioned above, he instinctively shot at the flashlight.  From the article above, it sounds like he laid in wait - similar to the Rodney Miller shooting - behind the fence he dove over - for McGowen to follow.  Why not run and dive over another fence?  With Offerman and Sanchez, who both broke free, ONS was in a position to abort and run, but he did not. 

EDIT:  There are two exceptions - the July 1979 Danville attack and October 1979 Goleta attack where he does abort and run. 

I think he was trying to kill McGowen as well.  If he hit the light and McGowen had gunpowder burns then a) the flashlight was very close to McGowen's head, and b) McGowen was close to barrel of the gun.  This differs from previous accounts where it was said that McGowen was injured by shards of glass from the flash light.  In all the accounts the VR pulled the gun, pointed and shot, without aiming. You really don't need any skill to do what he did. This was a very close range encounter.  IMO it was just a desperate all or nothing act to get away. 


Post by redding on about an hour ago
If the VR did have any training I think that he would of fired several shots to increase the odds of hitting his target and to lessen the chance that McGowen would have a chance to shoot back.

As I admitted in my original post, you may be correct that he was just very lucky in his timing and shot-placement when engaging Officer McGowen.

But to reliably and consistently [href="http://www.wikihow.com/Point-Shoot-a-Pistol-%28Handgun%29"]point-shoot[/a] with any degree of accuracy does require substantial practice -- even at close-ranges which is the only appropriate distance for this tactic.
In this case, his aiming-point was the 2" diameter lens of the officer's mag-light -- impressive accuracy in most any situation, but especially in this high-stress environment.


You're also correct that combat-pistol training encourages "double-taps" whenever possible, so as to ensure effective target-neutralization.
I think that it is safe to assume that he had no qualms about murdering someone. However, I would suggest in this specific situation the prowler was not necessarily looking to kill Officer McGowen, but to merely break-the-pursuit. The prowler was used to having the initiative (through in-depth reconnaissance and pre-planning) and maintaining control of his engagements. But McGowen has taken the initiative away from the prowler on this night -- so all that the prowler was desperately looking for was to break contact, to escape, and to evade.

It is likely that once that the prowler shot at McGowen, he saw the officer drop his light and grab his head, perhaps even falling to the ground. The prowler may have thought that he had scored a head-shot and had actually killed McGowen. In any case, the near-miss was all that the prowler needed -- so as to incapacitate the officer and terminate the pursuit.
Would the prowler take the extra seconds to finish-off his pursuer, while suspecting that the officer's partner or other members of the surveillance-team were rapidly closing-in on the shots?


It's also interesting to note that the prowler chose to turn 180 and engage the pursuing officer, after the prowler jumped over the fence. He probably could have kept running but instead chose to turn-around and "ambush" the officer as he followed him over the fence. To me, this shows that the prowler had some confidence in his skills with a handgun.


Of course, given the sparseness of my knowledge of the detailed facts regarding this engagement, everything that I am saying is nothing more than speculation.

[redding]

McGowen had fired a warning shot and he had the VR dead to rights. Short of surrender (which the shrinks predicted he would never do) he had no choice but to feign a surrender and then turn and shoot. I still think that if he had any training he would shot multiple times to neutralize the threat.

[zforce]

Lets not spend more time on this than necessary.

VR fired at McGowen between the fence posts from about 10'. Shot hit his flashlight, which sent pieces of glass into his eye, thus ending the pursuit.

A more relevant convo at this juncture would be to discuss VR's escape route, which is the more questionable aspect of the incident. The shooting itself is pretty cut and dry and it's really tough for me to fault McGowen at all with the way he responded.

[Brad]

Feb 17, 2014 12:27:45 GMT zforce said:

VR fired at McGowen between the fence posts from about 10'. Shot hit his flashlight, which sent pieces of glass into his eye, thus ending the pursuit. 

The shooting itself is pretty cut and dry and it's really tough for me to fault McGowen at all with the way he responded.

I agree with this 100%. Exceptional cops will tell you that deadly force is nowhere near a first option, and shooting a person you assume to be a kid in the back would pretty much ruin you. Things happen very very fast and McGowan could have lost his life that day, when the other guy SHOULD have lost his life that day, but judging something chaotic that happened in the dark at lightning speed almost 40 years later is unfair. He had no idea that this guy would (in my opinion, anyway) become a serial rapist or serial killer. And neither would the review board that would investigate the shooting if he had killed him.

I also am interested in the escape route. I think it would be an important first thread in unraveling some of this.

[Deleted]

The Visalia Times-Delta article says:

"Within minutes of the gunman's shot, as many as 70 law enforcement officers - from the Visalia department, the sheriff's office and the California Highway Patrol - poured into the residential area near Dollner Street and Kaweah Avenue.

Extra officers were called out in an attempt to seal off a six-square block segment, but the gunman eluded the dragnet.

Police tracked him from the scene to nearby Highway 198, but he apparently doubled back toward the shooting scene and slipped through a tightening ring of lawmen.  Dogs were employed in an effort to follow the man's trail, but the attempt proved futile."

EDIT:  Here is a very good diagram of the entire McGowen Shooting incident - which occurred on Wednesday, December 10, 1975 - including the escape route, from "The Casebook of the Bedroom Killer" site by "jjmcgr" (I cropped it to meet the MB limit for attachments on PB):

Click to enlarge.

Attachment Deleted

[Deleted]

Feb 17, 2014 0:36:15 GMT redding said:

If the VR did have any training I think that he would of fired several shots to increase the odds of hitting his target and to lessen the chance that McGowen would have a chance to shoot back.

Handgun training does not teach you to fire as many rounds as you can squeeze off. In the military at least, you are taught to visually acquire your target, aim at center mass, then fire no more than twice with the handgun. You then reacquire your target then engage again if necessary. Generally two rounds at center mass will inflict sufficient damage, dropping or rendering most targets incapable of further hostile action. If the target is still capable of hostile action...reacquire visually and put two more in it. Most handgun action takes place at seven yards or less. Anyone on this board with normal motor skills is capable of learning to qualify with (for example) a 9mm pistol at a distance of seven yards probably after only a few hours of instruction. Adrenaline however can make horrible marksman of us all. That is why the most important component of any training is either repetition (practicing over and over) or replication (introducing high degree stressors into the training environment). In the case of the military and law enforcement they incorporate both into their standard training regimens. There are now some civilian training programs who bring the repetition and stress replication factors into their handgun training programs. If anyone is thinking about concealed carry of a firearm or even just having one in the home for the defense of you and your family...please take a firearms course with the weapon you choose and practice with it regularly. Then again you could just get a 12 gauge, load it with 00 buckshot and you will hit pretty much everything downrange at seven yards or less.