Case #45 - The People Vs Wayde Farrell (Reflecting Back on my First Shooting)
When I first joined the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department in 1985, I was living alone in an apartment in Long Beach, near 7th Street and Cherry Avenue. Not the nicest part of town at the time. It was a one bedroom, with a living room and a small kitchen. The building itself was one story and my place was closest to the alleyway.
So one night I got off work and drove home. All the lights in my place were off, because I left for work in the afternoon. I unlocked my front door, walked in and turned on the living room light. I walked across the living room to my bedroom door, which was directly across from the front door. I opened the door and took one step inside. Without turning on the light in the bedroom, I reached across my body and pulled my 6" Smith & Wesson .357 revolver from it's holster under my left arm. I reached down to set it on the dresser to my right. As I did that, the ambient light from the living room allowed me to see the silhouette of a guy standing against the wall to my right, in front of my closet, on the opposite side of the dresser. I could see him from the waist up.
I immediately went from setting my gun down on the dresser to raising to point at the intruder. As I was raising my gun, I saw the intruder appeared to be raising a gun to aim at me. I got my gun to shoulder level, as the intruder did the same. There was no time for talking and I quickly fired off one round, as I backed around the corner of the door jamb back into the living room.
I turned off the living room lights and waited and listened. All I could hear was my breathing, my rapid heartbeat and the pulse in my ears. I reached around the door jamb and turned on the bedroom lights. A split second later, I sneaked a peek into the room with my gun extended toward where I had last seen the intruder. I saw I had shot my foe. He was armed and he was not alive. He happened to be my reflection in the full length mirror on my closet door. Even though I did shoot my reflection in the chest, the author, Robert Rangel refused to include me in his bestseller book, "The Red Dot Club, where he interviews officers who have survived being shot. I mean WTF! My reflection was shot in the chest!
VERDICT - Wayde, Wayde, Wayde... Yer a damn fine shot, I'll give ye that, but ye seems ta be a bit Trigger Happy. Normally the Court system frowns on folks bein' Trigger Happy, but ye are a deputy sheriff after all, so it's ta be 'spected. However, this Court finds ye Guilty o' Being Drunk 'n' Tired. Why else would ye's be confessin' to such a bit of foolishness? I know fer a fact that ye have plenty more o' them there heelarious Jeff Fleming, Rick Cocke, and Dave Kluth stories. And I know folks cain't wait ta hear a Bob Esson Story! And don't forget that embarrasin' tale about little Mikey Gomez and that stuff he used to drink out of that dildo looking thingy. I guess your savin' those for a special occasion. Oh! And yer also found Guilty o' Bein' Twitchy. What's that bailiff? Oh. Alrighty then, I find ye Not Guilty o' Bein' Twitchy. Ayparently, ye didn't take yer seizure meds today, even though ye told the missus ye did. And another thing boyo, I'm issuing a restraining order against you. You are to stop leaving messages on Robert Rangel's message machine and car window. You are to stop texting him, emailing him, slow mailing him and PMing him on Facebook. Shooting your reflection in a mirror does not qualify you as a member of the Red Dot Club. It qualifies you as a member of the I Dot Club, ya i-dot!
SENTENCE - Wayde Farrell, the Court orders ye to either buy one of them there light timer thingys, or a clapper. You know that, "Clap on, Clap off", doohickey that they sell on late night T.V. fer jest $19.95... two fer that price, if'n yer quick about it. That oughta keep ye's from blastin' all the reflective services in yer humble abode.
When I first joined the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department in 1985, I was living alone in an apartment in Long Beach, near 7th Street and Cherry Avenue. Not the nicest part of town at the time. It was a one bedroom, with a living room and a small kitchen. The building itself was one story and my place was closest to the alleyway.
So one night I got off work and drove home. All the lights in my place were off, because I left for work in the afternoon. I unlocked my front door, walked in and turned on the living room light. I walked across the living room to my bedroom door, which was directly across from the front door. I opened the door and took one step inside. Without turning on the light in the bedroom, I reached across my body and pulled my 6" Smith & Wesson .357 revolver from it's holster under my left arm. I reached down to set it on the dresser to my right. As I did that, the ambient light from the living room allowed me to see the silhouette of a guy standing against the wall to my right, in front of my closet, on the opposite side of the dresser. I could see him from the waist up.
I immediately went from setting my gun down on the dresser to raising to point at the intruder. As I was raising my gun, I saw the intruder appeared to be raising a gun to aim at me. I got my gun to shoulder level, as the intruder did the same. There was no time for talking and I quickly fired off one round, as I backed around the corner of the door jamb back into the living room.
I turned off the living room lights and waited and listened. All I could hear was my breathing, my rapid heartbeat and the pulse in my ears. I reached around the door jamb and turned on the bedroom lights. A split second later, I sneaked a peek into the room with my gun extended toward where I had last seen the intruder. I saw I had shot my foe. He was armed and he was not alive. He happened to be my reflection in the full length mirror on my closet door. Even though I did shoot my reflection in the chest, the author, Robert Rangel refused to include me in his bestseller book, "The Red Dot Club, where he interviews officers who have survived being shot. I mean WTF! My reflection was shot in the chest!
VERDICT - Wayde, Wayde, Wayde... Yer a damn fine shot, I'll give ye that, but ye seems ta be a bit Trigger Happy. Normally the Court system frowns on folks bein' Trigger Happy, but ye are a deputy sheriff after all, so it's ta be 'spected. However, this Court finds ye Guilty o' Being Drunk 'n' Tired. Why else would ye's be confessin' to such a bit of foolishness? I know fer a fact that ye have plenty more o' them there heelarious Jeff Fleming, Rick Cocke, and Dave Kluth stories. And I know folks cain't wait ta hear a Bob Esson Story! And don't forget that embarrasin' tale about little Mikey Gomez and that stuff he used to drink out of that dildo looking thingy. I guess your savin' those for a special occasion. Oh! And yer also found Guilty o' Bein' Twitchy. What's that bailiff? Oh. Alrighty then, I find ye Not Guilty o' Bein' Twitchy. Ayparently, ye didn't take yer seizure meds today, even though ye told the missus ye did. And another thing boyo, I'm issuing a restraining order against you. You are to stop leaving messages on Robert Rangel's message machine and car window. You are to stop texting him, emailing him, slow mailing him and PMing him on Facebook. Shooting your reflection in a mirror does not qualify you as a member of the Red Dot Club. It qualifies you as a member of the I Dot Club, ya i-dot!
SENTENCE - Wayde Farrell, the Court orders ye to either buy one of them there light timer thingys, or a clapper. You know that, "Clap on, Clap off", doohickey that they sell on late night T.V. fer jest $19.95... two fer that price, if'n yer quick about it. That oughta keep ye's from blastin' all the reflective services in yer humble abode.
Okay, now that's funny!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sir. True stories are the funniest.
DeleteOMG!... That was a close encounter of the worst kind.... That explains the seven years of torment you experienced just after that experience. Admittedly, I almost peed in my pants laughing.
ReplyDelete"...7 years of torment...", nice! I wish it had only been 7 years. I've been married for almost 26 years. Maybe it was a special mirror.
DeleteThanks for sharing! We are all, after all, just human!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading and commenting.
DeleteTook me a second read, good one!
ReplyDeleteThanks. The reason I put "... Normally the Court system frowns on folks bein' Trigger Happy, but ye are a deputy sheriff after all, so it's ta be 'spected." is, there used to be a saying in L.A. County that criminals used to have. "LAPD will shoot you to death, but the LASD will beat you to death."
DeleteLAPD and LASD are the two biggest law enforcement agencies in L.A. County and they have a friendly rivalry, so if one does something, the other tries to do it better.
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