(NY) Trooper wounded in 'Bucky' hunt dies

[krispos42]

(CNN) -- One of the New York state troopers shot last week during a search for fugitive Ralph "Bucky" Phillips died Sunday, New York State Police Superintendent Wayne Bennett said.

The officer, 32-year-old Joseph Longobardo, had a leg amputated on Saturday as doctors at Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo, New York, tried to save his life.

The other officer who survived Thursday's shooting, Donald Baker Jr., 38, has been upgraded from critical to serious condition in Hamot Hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania, Trooper Rebecca Gibbons said

<snip>

State police believe Phillips, 44, is the prime suspect in the shooting. He escaped Erie County Correctional Facility in April where he was serving time for a parole violation. He also allegedly shot a state trooper in June. That trooper, Sean Brown, is recovering.

<more>

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/03/manhunt.shootings/index.html

I wonder if the police will bother to take him alive...

[LosinIt]

1. The second trooper was shot in the back through his bulletproof vest

I would think this 'hero' is using armor piercing bullets, to shoot the cop in the back. Longobardo was shot in the leg and lost a huge amount of blood. He had the leg amputated on Saturday, and then died on Sunday. Longobardo is survived by his wife. They would have celebrated a wedding anniversary this Thursday, September 7. His son Louis just celebrated his first birthday.

The troopers were calling it an ambush, but weren't releasing any other details. My brother was a state trooper, but he retired last year. My mother is pretty emotional about this whole thing, pretty pissed actually. There have been two other trooper deaths in the last few months. One in a car chase, and one where a lone officer pulled over a kid that had just robbed a bank. If this Bucky loser shoots another cop, my 72 year old mother might dust off the old shotgun and go after him herself. She has turned into quite the radical in her old age.

[krispos42]

2. LOL the gun-totin' granny...

It probably wasn't been armor-piercing. Those have been off the market since 1986, I believe. In any case, it is designed for piercing steel plate, like on an light armored vehicle. And you can only get those in military calibers like the 5.56x45 NATO (what the M-16 shoots), the 7.62x51mm NATO (what the old M-14s, FALs, and M60s shoot), and the .30-'06, which was used in both World Wars and in Korea in rifles like the Garand.

All three are popular sporting cartridges. The "ought-six" is the basis for no less than four other hunting rounds and the .308 Winchester (what the 7.62mm NATO is called on the civilian market) is the basis for 2 other cartridges.

Rifles are far more powerful than pistols and the bullets are generally longer and thinner. This makes for excellent aerodynamics, but also more penetration, which is why the use of expanding bullets is mandated for hunting. Even an expanding bullet would penetrate a bulletproof vest, probably coming to rest imbedded in the far side of the armor after passing through the victim.

A bulletproof vest is designed to take pistol ammuntion and maybe buckshot without penetrationg. Rifles, especially deer rifles, are about 6 to ten times as powerful as most common defensive pistol rounds like the 9mm, the .40, and the .45. An army-style flak jacket might stop most midpower rifle bullets, but that is not what the cops use because it is very bulky. Most deer rifles are in the same power range as the .308 Winchester. It does not say what he was shooting with, so I can't give a better analsys.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_armor

During that famous West Hollywood shootout in 1997, the cops were faced with two shooters wearing several bulletproof vests cut up into head-to-toe body armor. The police pistol rounds and buckshot loads could not penetrate the armor, and that is why today the LAPD cars now also come equipped with civilian-legal AR-15s, what the Army calls the M-16.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Hollywood_shootout

[benEzra]

6. Any non-rimfire rifle will penetrate Kevlar body armor...

even using soft lead bullets, since soft body armor is only designed to stop handgun rounds, for reasons of comfort and wearability. Even an 1800's vintage .30-30 Winchester (the least powerful of common deer calibers) will go through Kevlar like Saran Wrap.

Armor-piercing handgun rounds have been banned since 1986, and AP ammo has also been banned for small- and intermediate-caliber rifles (.223/5.56mm, 7.62x39mm, and .308 Winchester) since 1994 under the same law.

[ClintonTyree]

3. You wouldn't believe the number of.........

"ordinary citizens" that are aiding and abetting this POS. "He's not a bad guy", say his relatives. :wtf: This guy needs to be taken down by any means necessary. If that means blowing his freaking head off..........oh well! If he hadn't committed the crimes he did in the first place, if he hadn't escaped, if he hadn't shot at Law Enforcement Officers, killing one, NONE of this would be happening, correct? For his family to say that, "he's not a bad guy" is totally insane. He IS a bad guy, the worst, and if he goes out in a hail of gunfire, like any good freeper type would, oh well! I have no sympathy for this jackass at all. None. And I'm having a hard time finding sympathy for his family as well with what they've been saying about the case.

[Missy M]

5. I'm with you regarding this guy. He is very dangerous and has...

been in and out of prison most of his life. I have no sympathy for this guy and I can't understand how people can say he is not a bad guy. I believe he would kill anyone who got in his way. There was a gun store that was robbed in the area last week and they are thinking it was Phillips who robbed it. He got something like 36 guns. One thing for sure is they will get him eventually and it can't be soon enough. He is nothing but a cold blooded killer.

[brentspeak]

8. His family and friends sound like they're members of a cult

Bunch of freaks.

[krispos42]

10. He WASN'T a bad guy, maybe. Now he is. n/t

[leftyladyfrommo]

4. That's awful.

It seems like we are seeing a whole lot of guys that are out there using humans and animals for target shooting with rifles. And killing people.

I think most people would feel a lot better if they could get this guy off the street.

[brentspeak]

7. Here are some photographs of this jackal, Phillips

For some ridiculous reason, most of the articles on the trooper's death fail to include an accompanying photograph of the fugitive who did the killing. I managed to track this down, after sifting through a dozen or so articles:

[hedgehog]

9. This entire case doesn't make sense.

Acc'd to the Syracuse Post-Standard, Phillips broke jail with less than 10 days remaining on a 90 day sentence for parole violation. Evidently he has or claims to have connections to one of the Five Nation tribes and has been moving on and off reservations in the area. Some Native Americans have quite a bit of hostility towards New York State and the troopers which may explain why some are helping this guy out.