hotel guest pulls gun on LE who broke into wrong room

[gunsmith]

cops ( due to hotel error?) think suspect is in this guys room, he has gun, I'm surprised it ended without a shooting.
http://travel.usatoday.com/hotels/post/2010/12/holiday-inn-express-accused-of-leading-police-to-wrong-room/133466/1

( I didn't see a date but I think its current )

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

mr little impresses me as a most reasonable man. proof of that is he did not shoot the cop  and that his suit is quite reasonable as well. no silly amount. were i in hotel management i would write him a check and make policy changes

[MechAg94]

So, were they standing there pointing guns at each other until the guy figured out the entrant was a cop?  Sounds like a pretty rough situation.

[vaskidmark]

Well, at least Mr. Little was staying at a Holiday Inn Express when this all went down.

Anyone staying anywhere else would have either shot the cop or been shot.

Apparently working at Holiday Inn Express does confer the same mental prowess as staying there.

I've gotta seen this one as a TV commercial.        

Srsly?  Not one uniformed cop?

Knowing nothing about what the suspect was wanted for, or how recently she had committed her crime, I have all sorts of questions about why plainclothes cops were acting without a warrant.   

stay safe.

[AZRedhawk44]

Those prostitution stings.

Johns might flush the evidence down the toilet or something.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

dollars to donuts  vice cop   hooking/drugs   rolled client  would love to hear the cops opinion on the guy who sent him to wrong room.  now THIS  is a teachable moment.  speaks well that neither man pulled trigger if they had it would be tough to fault the guy in the room

[Battle Monkey of Zardoz]

From the above linked article:

The man then allegedly broke the chain lock and forced his way into the hotel room. Little says he feared for his life and drew his pistol as protection. Little says the man shouted, "He has a gun," and drew his own weapon.

I travel and stay in hotels alot. Both sides got lucky that night. If the above statement is accurate, I would have shot. Period. Plain clothes. Middle of the night. Break open my hotel room door and door chain. I shoot.

Stoner V California. Anyone??

[TechMan]

Gunsmith,
It is current, at the bottom was the posting date.

Posted Dec 3 2010 5:07AM

[HankB]

From the way the story reads, the (non-uniformed, unidentifiable) LEO broke down the door, and then, after seeing the hotel room occupant was armed, drew his gun.

If the hotel guest didn't shoot the (non-uniformed, unidentifiable) invader when he first broke in, he certainly would have been totally justified when the non-uniformed, unidentifiable invader went for a gun.

That (non-uniformed, unidentifiable) LEO is so, so lucky . . . he ought to go out and buy a lotto ticket to try and ride his lucky streak.

[MicroBalrog]

There were many, many ways this could have gone tragically wrong. One has to see the professionalism of LEOs here, too.

[Battle Monkey of Zardoz]

THIS  is a teachable moment

Teachable for who?  From the info provided, not the hotel guest. The cops, yes. Lots of unanswered questions. Warrant?  What was the suspect wanted for?  No mention of cops after a fleeing suspect?

Mr Little does not need teaching. The cops, well, I second the need for them to go purchase a lottery ticket. I wouldn't have believed a plain clothed individual claiming to be a cop at my door at night.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

i think at least one cop learned to not blindly follow the instruction of a hotel employee. hopefully more than one cop learns from this.  i know some lessons "imprint" better than others. having a gun pointed at you increases the intensity of "imprint" a couple notches.

[HeroHog]

I'm afraid, based on what was presented, that the instant I saw an un-uniformed person burst through my door I would be on round 3 before the splinters hit the ground! That is a SUPER bad setup and STUPID on the officer's part to not go in with his gun/guard up IF it was serious enough to warrant that kind of entry!

[Battle Monkey of Zardoz]

i think at least one cop learned to not blindly follow the instruction of a hotel employee. hopefully more than one cop learns from this.  i know some lessons "imprint" better than others. having a gun pointed at you increases the intensity of "imprint" a couple notches.

Agreed

[roo_ster]

i think at least one cop learned to not blindly follow the instruction of a hotel employee. hopefully more than one cop learns from this.  i know some lessons "imprint" better than others. having a gun pointed at you increases the intensity of "imprint" a couple notches.

This.

I am glad nobody was hurt terribly.

Whenever I stay in a hotel room, I place one of the chairs in front of the door, edged over a little past or centered on the jamb on the side that opens, and place my luggage on the chair for some mass & bulk.  The idea is not to prevent a break-in, but to present an irregular obstacle that must be negotiated after the door is burst open. 

Are there not some portable dealies that will pretty much keep a door closed unless it is destroyed?  I think I might want to investigate one of those.

[vaskidmark]

Are there not some portable dealies that will pretty much keep a door closed unless it is destroyed?  I think I might want to investigate one of those.

These?

http://www.officemax.com/office-supplies/breakroom-cleaning/janitorial-supplies/door-stops?cm_mmc=Google-_-OFSU+Breakroom-_-Door+Stops-_-doorstop_Phrase&002=2109531&004=1238106844&005=280231792&006=5493617344&007=Search&008=&gclid=CNSarvXr0aUCFcNM4Aod606Skw

A bit more cost;y than I remember them being, but I think I bought my last hatd rubber doorstop in the 1970's, when they were somewhere between 50 & 75 cents.

Or you can get the screaming alarm model.
http://www.personalarms.com/home_alarms/door_stop_alarm.htm

stay safe.

[French G.]

Even door wedges are tactical now. http://www.tacwedge.com/

[gunsmith]

Even door wedges are tactical now. http://www.tacwedge.com/

woah, that's awesomely cool.

[230RN]

I have to wonder what will happen to Mr. Little when he gets back to Illinois with the authorities there knowing he has a handgun.  Aren't they a little sticky about that in the Land of Lincoln?

[KD5NRH]

Or you can get the screaming alarm model.
http://www.personalarms.com/home_alarms/door_stop_alarm.htm

Unfortunately, the kind that would wake me up quickly enough is illegal.

[kgbsquirrel]

Don't they make an adjustable length fox-bar that doesn't require a permanent floor anchor? (Think chair wedged under the door handle but substantially studier, functional and more portable.)

[Regolith]

Don't they make an adjustable length fox-bar that doesn't require a permanent floor anchor? (Think chair wedged under the door handle but substantially studier, functional and more portable.)

Yup.

http://www.amazon.com/Master-Lock-265DCCSEN-Dual-Function-Security/dp/B0002YUX8I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291454272&sr=8-1

Personally, I prefer that kind.  I've personally, uh, tested one. Works really well.

[TechMan]

I have to wonder what will happen to Mr. Little when he gets back to Illinois with the authorities there knowing he has a handgun.  Aren't they a little sticky about that in the Land of Lincoln?

If he had a FOID, he should be okay.
http://crime.about.com/od/gunlawsbystate/p/gunlaws_il.htm

[seeker_two]

Note to self.....need to get a Tokarev or AR-pistol as my new overnight-hotel-bedside pistol.....


This is also the reason I put a couple of chairs or luggage in front of the hotel door....

[sanglant]

Even door wedges are tactical now. http://www.tacwedge.com/

lol, the ozzy motel stay version.

The good news about TacWedgeâ„¢ is that its four steel spikes are so aggressive that they dig holes in concrete while the saw-tooth blade mauls the bottom of a door to shreds.