[BillCA]

Agreed - shooting not a shootout.

Other notable things in this story that make me wonder...

Undercover police SUV's. (i.e. unmarked vehicles)
Delaney said the men were wearing masks.
"It just looked like people after somebody in a car."
"...saw a police badge swinging from one of people and we're like, 'Oh they're police,' "

So what I surmise from all of this is that the suspect enters the parking lot and is either suddenly boxed in by two or more unmarked SUVs and men start appearing who are wearing masks. Whether you're a drug dealer or not your first reaction is to go immediately to condition red and try to get out of there.

Note what witnesses said in the quotes above. They didn't see police after someone in a car... and only after someone saw a "swinging badge" did they think of the police.


Let's complicate this a little. You're just about to back out of a parking slot at the mall and in the next aisle a Chevy Tahoe is just pulling in. Suddenly it's blocked by another SUV and masked men with guns jump out and run towards the Tahoe. You are legally armed with your CCW gun and decide to leave since you are outnumbered. You reverse your car and back out of the slot and WHAM you collide with another SUV and see masked men jumping out of that SUV too. What do you do? Me--I drop it into gear and floor it to get out of the area. If some masked guy gets in my way, tough. And what was that jewelry he had around his neck anyhow? Didn't I hear shouts of "Police"? No, I had the A/C running and the radio was telling me about Macy's White Sale "On Now".

This is precisely why I dislike so-called "undercover" busts. Citizens who can get caught up in the action can't tell good guys from bad guys. If you ask any average citizen their opinion of the identity of four masked men with guns running through a mall parking lot, way down on their list of possibilities will be "police".

And I've seen a number of gang members around this part of CA wearing a piece of large jewelry around their necks on chains -- something that could be mistaken for a badge at a distance... or first glance.