Burglar, shot in shoulder, dies at scene.

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http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/irvington_police_fatally_shoot.html

Irvington police fatally shoots burglar in Newark after suspect bites cop
By Star-Ledger Staff
January 21, 2010, 12:01PM

NEWARK -- An Irvington police officer fatally shot a burglar suspect in Newark after he allegedly bit the cop, authorities said

Police arrived at an Irvington machine shop at 56 South 20th Street after reports of three men breaking in shortly before 4 a.m. Inside the store, they saw a suspect using a ladder to go through a rooftop skylight, authorities said, and police surrounded the building.

The suspect then jumped about 25 feet from the roof to the ground and fled on foot, police said. Cops chased the suspect, and one of the officers caught up to him in the backyard of 58 Beverly Street in Newark, where they got into a "violent struggle," Judy Gagliano, chief assistant prosecutor at the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, said.

Police said the alleged burglar bit the cop, who managed to fire off one shot at very close range, hitting the man in the shoulder. The suspect died a short time later.

We sometimes get posters here who seem to have learned their gunfighting from the movies. They advise to shoot to wound the bad guy and choose either the leg or the shoulder as the place to aim for.

The real world isn't like the movies. In the movies a bullet to the shoulder is almost shrugged off. In the movies it is the classic flesh wound. You know the person is going to live.

In real life, ANY GUNSHOT WOUND CAN BE FATAL. In the Civil War there was a general (Southern I think, but am not sure.) who bled out from a bullet wound to the foot. In this case, it was a hit to the shoulder and he bled out in minutes.

There is no such thing as a safe place to shoot anybody. That is why we who advocate guns for self-defense also say that the gun must NOT be used unless the situation is so dire that we are willing to see the other person die because of our shot. However, once that point is reached, we will not hesitate to shoot, and will aim for center mass. The reason that we will aim for center mass is because the situation has become so dire.