Thousand Oaks, CA—Exactly one month to the day, Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayob and his PR department held a press conference to release some “new” details. In reality those details were not so new since a small 5.56 MM projectile was removed from the body of Sergeant Ron Helusduring unsuccessful emergency surgery.
Since they knew immediately that Ian David Long,the shooter was only armed with a .45 automatic Glock pistol and only the police were using Ar-15 style rifles capable of discharging the 5.56 MM rounds. They did learn definitively from the FBI laboratory that the round came from a CHP officer’s rifle. This was and is beyond humiliating as well as epically tragic. I don’t envy these fellows that had the duty to let this troubling cat out of the bag.
I did not make things easier for them when I asked about several off duty officers from at least three departments socializing in the Borderline club that were disarmed by a failed public policy. The answer they provided was skewed with a response that off duty cops aren’t required to carry off duty like it was their own choice!
They wanted no part of my follow up questions on that hot potato topic! One thing for sure, if one or more of the off duty cops were armed, Ian David Long would have been taken out well before so many, including Sgt. Helus were murdered.
I asked about surveillance video from inside the club during the shooting. They admitted that had the video but flat out refused to say what was caught on tape!
This was nothing more than another epic failure involving a Gun Free Zone. Off camera, I was told this was a political issue! I countered it was a public safety and survival issue. One thing for sure, toughening this venue and other soft targets was apparently not on anyone’s agenda.
Oh, when will we ever learn?
