Robbery and Shooting in Martinez : A good example

I wanted to share this with you guys, because I think it’s a good case of how things can go wrong, how not ALL criminals are whimpering jerks that run when you fire your airsoft look-alike, with the red plastic insert in the barrel...
This is the kind of thing that puts into perspective the debates we sometimes see about using less than adequate weaponry, or half serious security habits.

It happened yesterday at 9 PM in a wealthy Buenos Aires neighborhood called Martinez. Mr. Mata ( yes, means” kill” in Spanish) was getting back home in his SUV when 5 armed men intercepted him when he got to his driveway.

A note here: Remember what your good old pal FerFAL says about this? Always have your gun ready when you enter/exit your home!
Take no chances, my friends. Your gun is in your hand as you drive the last block to your house, as you open the garage door(remote control, you never leave the vehicle which can also be used as a weapon and provides some protection), as you enter it, and until you close it completely.
If someone advances towards you, you get ready, if you see a gun anywhere you run them over, or you start shooting, and keep on shooting until they go down, they leave or you run out of ammo.
Take grandpa FerFAL ‘s advice on this and you’ll live longer, or at least you’ll die surrounded by dead enemies! ;-)

Back to poor Mr. Mata.

As the bad guys forced him in his house, his 16 year old daughter that was upstairs at the moment manages to call 911 before the bad guys get her.

As usual, these neighborhoods have private security posts on each corner with a guard. But our 5 professional criminals took care of him a few hours before surprising Mr. Mata, kidnapping the guard.

While the criminals robbed the house a patrol car dropped by because of the 911 call.

Our criminals took another caution: They were all wearing nice suits.

One of the criminals (the band leader) answered the door and pretended to be the home owner. When the cop asked if everything was alright he said yes. He almost fooled the cop, except for one thing. It seems he added “ yes, we are fine, and get out of here, we don’t like “gorras” .

“Gorra”, (“hat” in Spanish) is how criminals refer to cops in slang prison language.
The cop noticed this as a bad sign and alerted other patrol cars, which showed up soon.

When the criminals saw the patrol cars, two escaped through the roofs and three tried to escape through the front door using their own car, with Mr. Mata and his daughter as human shields.

But as they try to get into the car, the 16 year old girl desperately pulls away from her captor that held her by her hair. Probably imagining the fate that awaited her in the hands of these criminals.
The bad guy starts shooting her but misses and she manages to run away behind a patrol car, where a cop quickly puts an armor vest on her and hides her inside a car.

Now, all hell brakes loose. The leader of the band, seeing that the girl escaped, executes Mr. Mata shooting him in the back of the head with a Sistema 45, stolen from a military armory.
They start firing and the cops shoot them down. The other criminals have 9mms, including a Bersa Thunder 9 stolen to a cop some weeks ago.
The criminals fire more than 80 rounds, the spent cases can be found all over the sidewalk along with the blood. At first they thought only 50 rounds where fired, but know we know that more than 100 rounds were fired between cops and criminals.
Two criminals make it to the car but are killed there by the cops, and another one lies on the sidewalk , still clenching in his first a chunk of long blond hair from Mr. Mata’s daughter.

According to interviewed witnesses, Mr. Mata’s son comes out of the house and starts kicking the bloody corpses screaming “You ruined our lives!”.

Neighbors agree that “it sounded like Irak”, and the TV images do those claims justice, cars and the family’s house are full of holes. Mr. Mata’s SUV is drilled with 45 slugs.

They later found out that the criminals had their pockets full of magazines, most still fully loaded. They also had radios.

So people,

Lets see:
1) Not all criminals run like sissies when shooting starts, and counting on that is a VERY poor strategy.
2) You want as much ammo as you can fit in a handgun, and you want it to fire the most powerful caliber you can handle.
3) Counting on “most gunfights only last 3 or 4 rounds” is as mistaken as the wishful thinking in 1)

Sources (sorry Spanish only) ;
http://www.lacalle-online.com/interior.php?ID=135459&PHPSESS=d2a6b2cfc21c29c2d71439825f4ab479

http://www.larazon.com.ar/notas/2008/06/12/01692598.html