"Ready, aim..."

Distraught by the death of a friend, 18-year-old Danny Lopez decided that the only way to cope with his grief was to grab his rifle and shoot down a LAPD helicopter.  Not only did he shoot the helicopter, it was so badly damaged that it had to make an emergency landing at Van Nuys Airport.  The helicopter was responding to a call of shots fired in the area; as it turned out, Lopez was the source of those fired shots and the LAPD helicopter became a big flying target.

“One of the first responding supervisors, that was actually controlling the incident out there, said he saw the suspect shooting in the direction of the helicopter, and he saw smoke coming out of the helicopter,” said Captain John Egan of the LAPD.  Eventually, some of the family members were actually able to subdue him, and the officers were able to come in and take him into custody.  The best thing about this is that no shots were fired by the police and this individual is in custody and he is unharmed.”

You just have to wonder:  what kind of rifle is powerful enough and accurate enough to shoot down a helicopter, especially a police helicopter.  You’d think they’d have some kind of ballistics protection to prevent fleeing suspects from attacking helicopters in a fit of rage, but apparently not.

Lopez’s great shooting earned him a charge of attempted murder on a police officer.  As for the helicopter, it made an unpowered landing at a charter air service strip at the airport.  It will be taken back to Hooper Air Station in downtown LA for repair and inspection.

Tags: Danny Lopez, Los Angeles, California, teen shoots down LAPD helicopter, rifleman shoots down police helicopter,  Van Nuys Airport, Los Angeles Police Department, LAPD, LAPD helicopter shot at, shooting down helicopter with rifle,  John Egan

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