Police use of force expert, former SWAT sniper reacts to unusual deputy-involved shooting from helicopter in San Bernardino

Following Friday’s highly unusual deputy-involved shooting of a suspect from a sheriff’s department helicopter in San Bernardino, police use of force expert and retired Placer County sheriff’s sergeant Rocky Warren of Warren Consulting said shooting a suspect from a police helicopter is both extremely rare and “very difficult.”
The last time Warren said he knew of such an incident occuring was in Alaska in 1984, when spree killer Michael Silka was fatally shot by a state trooper from a helicopter. Another trooper died in the shootout with Silka, who was armed with a high-powered rifle.
In addition to being highly unusual, “It’s a very techical shot,” Warren said. “They have to be tremendously skilled in order to do that.”
The invovled deputy had to contend with motion, wind as well as the added difficulty of firing from an elevated position, or “high angle of incidence,” which causes bullets to impact their targets differently than when fired horizontally.
Warren, a former SWAT team sniper, is familiar with difficult shots. In 1982, he became one of four law enforcement officer in the nation who has shot a gun from a suspect’s hand on command.
It appeared likely that the shooting saved lives of innocent people on the freeway, Warren said.
As a wanted home-invasion robbery suspect, the the driver was “a violent, fleeing felon,” Warren said. And when fleeing in an SUV weighing more than 3,000 pounds, “The car becomes a weapon.”
It was unclear late Friday whether the suspect killed in the San Bernardino shooting had a gun. Officials did not comment on initial reports that the suspect, who was wanted for a Fontana home-invasion robbery that occurred Thursday, may have fired on the sheriff’s department helicopter during the chase.
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