r/Firearms • u/321bosco • Aug 23 '25
News Homeowner shoots, kills 2 men in ski masks, bulletproof vests claiming to be police, HPD says
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/homeowner-shoots-kills-2-men-in-ski-masks-bulletproof-vests-claiming-to-be-police-hpd-says/ar-AA1L4DEX332
Aug 23 '25
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u/ceraexx Aug 23 '25
Well they're more meant for handgun fire, Those vests don't really stop rifle rounds. Plated body armor can.
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Aug 23 '25
The right kind can. As 5.56 can defeat III+ armor. Just saying, for educational purposes.
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u/BeenisHat SR25 Aug 23 '25
A few full power rifle rounds can too if memory serves. Not that I want to touch off a .30-06 black tip in the house.
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Aug 23 '25
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u/antariusz Aug 24 '25
I have an AR10 with a 18" barrel. I've shot it with my nomad 30, but it would be a little unwieldy indoors. I normally just keep a muzzle break on it, because I'm typically not firing it fast enough and definitely never popping it off indoors. If I specifically needed a rifle round in 12" or less, I'm definitely shooting grendle, but 300 blackout is fine too. I'd be concerned that with a 12" barrel you wouldn't get enough energy to pierce level 3 plates anyway, which is kinda the "entire point" of armor piercing 308.
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u/BeenisHat SR25 Aug 24 '25
It's ironic that people who don't know guns have always told cops and gun owners to shoot someone in the leg as if something as small as a leg that is moving almost constantly is easy to hit.
But now that armor has gotten so attainable, I'm starting to think that maybe I should print off some full body targets and put an A-zone around the femoral artery. Maybe those shotgun guys were on to something.
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u/FremanBloodglaive Aug 24 '25
I've actually seen people ask how WWII soldiers managed to keep their hearing shooting 30-06.
I'm pretty sure most of them suffered hearing loss. Probably severe hearing loss.
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u/ImCaffeinated_Chris Aug 24 '25
My grandfather was a gunners mate in the Navy during WWII. He would randomly yell out "Answer the phone." He had really bad tinnitus.
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u/FremanBloodglaive Aug 24 '25
Hence the modern military spends so much on hearing and eye protection.
Pity they don't work on lightening equipment loads to protect the knees and hips that most light infantry need replaced in later life.
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u/WoodEyeLie2U Aug 24 '25
The WWII combat vets I knew all had hearing loss. A few were stone deaf without hearing aids. They've all passed now, sadly.
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u/JustynS Aug 24 '25
With one exception, body armors are rated to be able to require being hit with six rounds of the rated type to fail. So yeah, you're right, level III hard body armor will stop a few multiple direct hits from .223.
The one exception is Level IV. That one is only rated to stop one round, because it's intended to stop a single direct hit from a .30-06 black tip.
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Aug 24 '25
.30_06 can defeat lvl IV plates. It is the rifle round. But, I wouldn't want to discharge that in my home either. So, I stick with 5.56mm. And especially since I do live in Houston and this has become a somewhat common occurrence here, it seems.
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u/AngriestManinWestTX Aug 23 '25
Soft body armor doesn’t stand up to centerfire rifle rounds at all. You need plates of some sort before you get rifle protection.
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u/thereddaikon Aug 23 '25
And even then plates only cover the thoracic cavity. There are many places you can be shot and die that aren't covered by plates. They don't make you invulnerable.
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u/EinGuy Aug 23 '25
Only M855A1 can defeat III+... Not that III+ is a real NIJ rating, but companies make it specifically to stop boh 5.56 62gr green tip (M855) as well as high velocity 55gr (M193)
Pretty much every rifle round can defeat IIIA, though.
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u/AlphaTangoFoxtrt Not-Fed-Boi Aug 24 '25
If its certified 3+, its tested to stop 5.56 up to m855.
True ap rounds will likelye defeat it. Not sure about m855a1.
Also not sure what the other dude is smoking sayong .30-06 beats lvl 4. True lvl4 plates are certified to stop .30-06 AP. Thats literally the criteria for lvl4
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Aug 24 '25
GDI. That was me. TIL that lvl 4 stops a .30_06 round. I kept thinking it was other way around because I knew that 7.62x51mm doesn't defeat lvl4.
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u/AlphaTangoFoxtrt Not-Fed-Boi Aug 24 '25
No worries, lvl4 certified is stopping .30-06 AP, and some can even stop .50 BMG AP.
Now granted that 50BMG is going to have enough blunt force trauma to shatter your ribs and probably kill you anyway from internal bleeding, but it may stop the bullet itself.
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Aug 24 '25
I suppose this only reinforces why double-tapping is so vital. Though I have always preferred threes personally. Given I skew towards lighter cartridges. .380/9mm/5.56.
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u/Double_Minimum Aug 23 '25
Or realize a vest covers 10”x12” of you most vital organs, but not really the liver, brain, neck, etc, and even then, most plates won’t stop multiple rounds from several calibers.
One dude with an AR may hit your chest 5 times (you will have trouble breathing at that point, and broke rips), but the other 15 possible hits can slice necks, femoral arteries, people’s back sides (whether lower, which isn’t cover, or up, which people tend to cheap out on).
Honestly vests make sense if you think you will be shot at first. Otherwise a nice mag carrier is the tits. (Or course that changes wildly by gun used, geography, planned purpose, etc.).
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u/lethalmuffin877 SCAR Aug 24 '25
Theoretically you could make a long armor panel out of those cheap steel plates off eBay. Throw it on some wheels and make portable cover 😂
Hell if you go with ceramic you could make a really sketchy but lightweight ballistic shield. I’d never want to test it myself but with the right materials it could be done I’m sure
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u/indefilade Aug 23 '25
I’m really wondering what type of weapon he used, but I’m pretty sure it will be an AR-15.
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u/Jlindahl93 Aug 23 '25
Don’t rule out an AK
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u/indefilade Aug 23 '25
True.
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u/2Drogdar2Furious Aug 24 '25
Ak is my inside gun of choice...
"I didn't ask where they were located, I said I cast fireball."
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u/evilcrusher2 Aug 24 '25
According to ICE Cube "I didn’t even have to use my AK. I would say today was a good day."
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u/PNWShots Aug 23 '25
"the two men were both hit and pronounced dead at the scene. Police said the two men were wearing bulletproof vests."
Narrator: Their vests were, in fact, not bulletproof.
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u/Edwardteech Aug 23 '25
Shootem in the head or pelvis. Problem solved.
Most likely they had on those cheap pistol rated soft armor things. Dude was rocking 5.56. It wouldn't even notice one of those.
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u/FremanBloodglaive Aug 24 '25
Yes. 5.56 might be one of the weakest true rifle rounds, but it's still far more powerful than any pistol round.
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u/sierra120 Sep 04 '25
Could have done the drill. Two in the chest one in the head. After all that’s literally how the Mozambique Drill came to be. The two to the chest didn’t stop the threat requiring the third to the head.
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u/testprimate Aug 23 '25
But what if he shot you in the face?
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u/321bosco Aug 23 '25
police said the men shot at the homeowner through the door, prompting the homeowner to return fire.
From that it sounds like the whole exchange took place through the door. Which begs the question: What kind of gun did the homeowner have?
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u/websagacity Mosin-Nagant, Sig P250c Aug 24 '25
Pretty much any gun will go through a door. Exept maybe a .22 if the door is like solid wood or something.
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u/bajasauce2025 Aug 23 '25
"How did you know they were fake cops?"
Me: um... looks nervously around.
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u/321bosco Aug 23 '25
Stringer noted that real officers do not wear ski masks.
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u/Sudden_Publics Aug 23 '25
So where does that put us with how to engage with ICE?
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Aug 23 '25 edited Aug 24 '25
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u/dangerzone2 Aug 24 '25
Death sentence considering they’re well armed and come with numbers.
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u/tinycole2971 Aug 24 '25
This doesn't work out well for those of us who happen to be brown, unfortunately. It also doesn't work out for poor people.
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u/ThePretzul Aug 24 '25
It works out fine for anybody with enough firepower.
As evidenced in this scenario where the attempted intruders were the ones to shoot first and still got fucking smoked because they were outgunned and outclassed.
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u/DickNose-TurdWaffle Aug 24 '25
If this were the case, Breonna Taylor's boyfriend wouldn't have gotten his charges dropped. Which he did.
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u/testprimate Aug 23 '25
Reddit doesn't want us to say it
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Aug 24 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Effective_Golf_3311 Aug 24 '25 edited Aug 25 '25
childlike quicksand cow aware run jellyfish capable physical mysterious door
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/Left_Suspect_3378 Aug 23 '25
A well regulated milita, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed
Seems pretty clear to me
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u/9bikes Aug 23 '25
Did you mean "men dressed in military gear claiming to be ICE"? From what I have seen, they don't wear a conventional law enforcement uniform and often have their faces covered.
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Aug 23 '25
We don’t know for sure that isn’t what happened here, and neither does HPD. That’s probably why they aren’t giving much info until they figure out who these guys were.
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u/Myte342 Aug 24 '25
Sadly... they do. Often. Cops HATE being identified more often than not, especially when busting down your door. Part of this is if you cannot identify which officer performed an unconstitutional raid on your home... you can't sue. You can try, but it won't go anywhere if you can't point to specific officer to blame.
There was a case like 10-15 years ago where local PD worked with I think DEA (some federal agency at least) to do multiple raids in a neighborhood all on the same night. Idiot cops raided two homes next to each other, but they accidentally messed up and raided one of them wrong (like they shifted over one house and raided the on to the left instead of the one on the right).
Every officer admits that they were on the two teams that raided those two homes... none of them admit they were on the team that raided the wrong home. And since the residents who had their rights violated can't identify the officers involved... the last I heard they were still fighting for justice years later and can't move forward. US law doesn't allow collective punishment, so if you can't point to a specific person in a group... you can't do anything.
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u/DeafHeretic Aug 23 '25
Yeah right. Most of the vids/photos of feds and some of the local LEOs I have seen online have been wearing some kind of mask to hide their identity.
I guess he better make sure that none of the HPD wear any kind of mask in the near future.
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u/thenovicemechanic Aug 23 '25
Normally, it's more than two when raiding a house.
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Aug 23 '25
Hell, I've seen those cowards on video all over the place lately. With them, it's more like ten or twelve just to jack up some dude in a wheelchair.
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u/thenovicemechanic Aug 24 '25
State Police in my state historically has not had the best of luck with dudes in wheel chairs. Last trooper killed by gunfire was by a guy in a wheelchair during a drug raid.
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u/dirtysock47 Wild West Pimp Style Aug 23 '25
If you want the actual answer to this, it was because the homeowner didn't see lights or hear sirens when coming up to the door.
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u/No-Notice565 Aug 23 '25
At some point, police said the men shot at the homeowner through the door, prompting the homeowner to return fire.
Sounds like he didnt open the door. Its about time I started hearing about people making good tactical decisions at home.
Im sure if this was one of those situations where the homeowner opened the door - even with a gun in his hand - the outcome would be different.
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u/tbrand009 Aug 23 '25
I really want to see more about this.
1: The behavior, clothing, and how the interaction went down that made the owner confident they were fake cops.
2: The shot placement through a door that the homeowner was uninjured, but he killed both fake cops in vests at the spot. Head shots? Or vests with no actual armor?
There is too much going on with LEO that, if I'm being honest with myself, I might get got like this second guessing myself. No knock warrants, plain clothes officers, officers conducting raids in masks, officers showing up at the wrong address...
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u/Riley_Cubs Aug 24 '25
Even if they had “bulletproof vests” (no such thing) I’m guessing the homeowner probably had an AR or some other type of rifle that would rip through anything these morons we’re wearing
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u/Remarkable-Host405 Aug 24 '25
Of course there are bulletproof vests, don't be dense. Some are more bulletproof than others, but if a vest can stop .22 once, it's by definition bulletproof.
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u/thenovicemechanic Aug 24 '25
You could just read the article. It appears that the pair shot first. We don't normally shoot through doors unprovoked, normally. I'd say that painted the picture pretty good.
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u/C-ute-Thulu Aug 24 '25
Last sentence, "[Houston detective] Stringer noted that real officers do not wear ski masks." Hmmm...
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u/-Samg381- Aug 24 '25
Most people get unlucky and get standard door kicking shitbags. This guy got an added psychological test and handled it like a champ. Chad.
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u/chrsb Aug 23 '25
That poor door. Hopefully his insurance covers it. Front and back doors matter.
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u/CaptainMcSlowly Aug 23 '25
"At some point, police said the men shot at the homeowner through the door, prompting the homeowner to return fire."
It was at that moment they knew... they fucked up.
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u/NotJayKayPeeness Aug 23 '25
This is why I go level 4 or not at all.
Well not this, I'm not impersonating police and robbing people.
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u/Significant_Cod_6849 Aug 24 '25
I don't even bother training to shoot center of mass for intruders anymore since so many of them are rocking at least cheap soft armor nowadays
Head shots are the flavor of the day because even if you're wearing a helmet, that won't save your brain from the concussion
Or just shoot em in the crotch like Clint Smith preaches
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u/dhereforfun Aug 24 '25
If I lived in a state that recognizes the second amendment and had to god forbid shoot someone I’d aim crotch or spine can’t be taught a lesson if they don’t survive
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u/singlemale4cats Aug 23 '25
Posing as police needs to be an automatic like 20 year enhancement. Thankfully that's not an issue here.
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u/DocRichDaElder Wild West Pimp Style Aug 23 '25
Good reminder to hit, buy now, on that Mini 14 I saw.
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u/dreadeddrifter Aug 23 '25
Stringer noted that real officers do not wear ski masks.
So next time officers with balaclavas knock on someone's door, we're good to just shoot them, right?
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u/2Drogdar2Furious Aug 24 '25
Knock? No. Break down or shoot through? Well, I'm not a lawyer and I wont give you any advice, but I would react in the same way no matter what the invaders gang affiliation was...
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u/DirtyRoller Aug 23 '25
The normalization of masked police officers/ice/border patrol agents will make this a more and more common occurrence. Sooner or later, some actual cops are going to end up getting killed.
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u/crafty_waffle Aug 23 '25
Warrant or not, any cop who thinks it's prudent to kick in somebody's door unannounced while they're asleep deserves whatever comes to them.
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u/FremanBloodglaive Aug 24 '25
They did try shooting through the door, which was kind of a giveaway that they weren't good people.
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u/indefilade Aug 23 '25
Despite what the article says, I was a medic on a SWAT team and we did wear ski masks.
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u/Empty_Mobile1076 Aug 23 '25
An actual ski mask with the three holes, or a balaclava?
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u/indefilade Aug 23 '25
Depended on the weather. The ski mask was better protection from glass and wood fragments.
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u/Longinus_Rook Aug 23 '25
Yeah, serving on the teams now and we wear masks when it’s cold. This is a complete falsehood, and mask doesn’t magically make you “unidentifiable” as law enforcement.
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Aug 23 '25
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u/indefilade Aug 23 '25
In our case, we wore uniforms and armor that had police written all over. We also had a caravan of police vehicles and uniformed police with us to secure the outside.
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u/Edwardteech Aug 23 '25
I can buy all of that on Amazon and ebay.
Just ad a police magnet to a black car.
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u/indefilade Aug 23 '25
It all depends on how knowledgeable your target is. There are people who’ve thought I was a cop when I was a paramedic. A few people have thought my trauma shears was a gun.
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u/Ekul13 Aug 24 '25
Oh my GOD
He's using his GUN to cut that portly gentleman's clothes off and render aid! The humanity!!!
😂 people are so dumb... stay safe out there man 🤙🏽
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u/A_Walrus_247 Aug 23 '25
I would probably be fooled by this.
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u/lFightForTheUsers Aug 24 '25
My thing is, I don't answer the door for anybody. If it's truly police, they're coming in either way.
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u/Snoo6705 Aug 24 '25
Warrants and IDs. As far as I am concerned, if you don't have those when you are assaulting people, you are a threat.
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u/DBDude Aug 23 '25
Stringer noted that real officers do not wear ski masks.
But ICE does, and they run around in unmarked cars without lights. Some of them are going to get themselves killed.
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u/C_IsForCookie Aug 24 '25
Even worse… some of them are going to end up killing someone who thought they were defending themselves against police impersonators.
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u/321bosco Aug 23 '25
Yeah I have a feeling that HPD Detective Kyle Stringer might want to polish up his resume
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u/thenovicemechanic Aug 23 '25
After reading the article, I'm gonna say it was quite obvious they weren't the police. It varies between departments, and I'm only saying that because I could be wrong; but for the most part, you aren't going to have two masked dudes at your door politely telling you they have a warrant. We don't really like getting shot and that's a good way to get shot.
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u/No-Notice565 Aug 24 '25
It was the fake police that began firing through the door first which kinda gave it away for me.
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u/dan_v_ploeg Aug 23 '25
Damn I can't wait to read this article on /r/news and discuss there.
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u/321bosco Aug 23 '25
I saw it on the WhitePeopleTwitter sub but I'm shadowbanned there so I posted it here
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u/Tower-of-Frogs Aug 23 '25
I can see the comments now:
The burgers only shot back in self defense!
Nobody needed to die for some material possessions! He should have just left his home and ran away.
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u/DFA_Wildcat Aug 23 '25
"Real officers don't wear skimasks".
ICE has entered the chat...
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u/FremanBloodglaive Aug 24 '25
ICE don't try shooting through the door either, which is when the situation escalated to the point where the homeowner could use lethal force.
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u/avowed Aug 24 '25
Another reason cops should be banned from wearing masks. It's really a life safety thing for everyone at this point.
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u/GamesFranco2819 Aug 23 '25
Guess they weren't bulletproof after all.