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Shootout

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Shootout is a term referring to gun battles. For the hockey term see Overtime (ice hockey). For the poker term, see Poker jargon, 'S'.
A shootout is a gun battle between armed groups or opposing factions. A shootout often, but not necessarily, pits law enforcement against criminal elements. A shootout may also involve two groups outside of law enforcement, such as rival gangs. A shootout in a military context (i.e., regularly constituted armed forces or even guerilla or insurgent forces) would usually be considered a battle rather than a shootout.

Shootout! is also a documentary television program on the History Channel detailing actual shootouts. [link]

Famous shootouts

Jesse James Northfield Bank Robbery

September 7, 1876. Jesse James, Cole Younger, and their gang attempt to rob a bank in Northfield, Minnesota. They shot it out with the townspeople.

Deaths: James-Younger gang: 2; Northfield town: 1

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

October 26, 1881. Wyatt Earp and his brothers, along with Doc Holliday shoot it out with the Clantons and McLaurys in Tombstone, Arizona.

Deaths: Clanton/McLaury: 3; Earp/Holliday: 0

Frisco Shootout

December 1, 1884. Legendary lawman Elfego Baca shoots it out with 80 cowboys in Frisco (now Reserve), New Mexico.

Deaths: Cowboys: 4; Baca: 0

Jules Bonnot; Paris, France

April 28, 1912. 500 police officers, soldiers, firemen, and lynch mob participants shoot it out with anarchist Jules Bonnot in a Paris suburb. The conflict ends after police bomb the building in which Bonnot is taking cover.

Deaths: 1 (Bonnot)

Battle of Matewan, West Virginia

May 19, 1920. Private agents from the Baldwin-Felts detective agency shoot it out with the local sheriff, the town's mayor, and a group of coal miners, over an attempt by Baldwin-Felts agents to evict coal miners from their homes during a strike.

Deaths: Townspeople: 3; Baldwin-Felts: 7

See: Matewan massacre, Matewan (film about the shootout), [Battle of Matewan]

Bonnie and Clyde; Joplin, Missouri

March 22, 1933. Bonnie Parker & Clyde Barrow and their friends shoot it out with the local police who had been sent to investigate them in Joplin, Missouri.

Deaths: Lawmen: 2; Bonnie/Clyde: 0

The Kansas City Massacre

June 17, 1933. Kansas City, Missouri. In an attempt to free their friend, a criminal gang ambushed seven FBI agents and Kansas City police at the train station as they were escorting captured fugitive Frank Nash back to prison. The FBI agents were unarmed but the local police shot it out with the criminal gang. The gang unintentionally killed Nash along with the law officers.

The FBI claimed that the gang included Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd, but the evidence is debatable and seems to contraindicate Floyd's presence.

Deaths: Kansas City Police: 2; Oklahoma police: 1, FBI: 1; Nash: 1; Gang: 0

Bonnie and Clyde; Bienville Parish, Louisiana

May 23, 1934. Technically not a shootout, but an ambush. Bonnie & Clyde were ambushed and slain by Texas Rangers and Louisiana police in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.

Deaths: Bonnie/Clyde: 2; Lawmen: 0

Ma Barker

January 16, 1935. Ma Barker and her gang were slain by the FBI during a shootout in the area near Ocala, Florida.

Deaths: Barkers: 2(?); Lawmen: 0(?)

The Palace Chophouse shootout

October 23, 1935. Gangster “Dutch Schultz” and cronies shoot it out with rival mobsters from Murder, Inc. in Schultz’s restaurant, Palace Chophouse in Newark, New Jersey.

Deaths: Schultz gang: 4; Murder, Inc.: 0

Austin Tower Sniper

August 1, 1966. Charles Whitman barricaded himself at the top of the tower at the University of Texas at Austin and proceeded to shoot randomly from the tower. He was killed in a final shootout when his perch was stormed by Austin police.

Deaths: Killed by Whitman: 13; Whitman: 1

1972 Munich Olympic Massacre

September 6, 1972. Palestinian terrorists took nine Israeli athletes hostage at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany. A shootout with the German police occurred at the airport in Munich when the kidnappers attempted to escape with their hostages.

Deaths: Israelis: 9; Palestinians: 6; Germans: 1

Symbionese Liberation Army

May 17, 1974. A violent shootout in Los Angeles between the SLA and 400 law enforcement officers from Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), FBI, and California Highway Patrol in Los Angeles, California.

Deaths: SLA: 6; Law officers: 0

Pine Ridge Shootout

June 26, 1975. A confrontation and gun battle between American Indian Movement (AIM) activists and the FBI on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

Deaths: FBI: 2; AIM: 1

Entebbe hostage rescue

July 4, 1976. Israeli forces landed covertly at the Entebbe International Airport near Kampala, Uganda in a daring international hostage-rescue mission. A three-way shootout occurred among the Israelis, the terrorists, and Ugandan armed forces.

Deaths: Ugandan forces: 45; terrorists: 6; hostages: 3; Israeli forces: 1

Golden Dragon Massacre

The Golden Dragon Massacre took place in San Francisco, California on September 4, 1977. At 2:30 AM a longstanding feud between two rival Chinatown gangs, the Joe Boys and Wah Ching, came to head when a botched assassination attempt by the Joe Boys at the Golden Dragon Restaurant led to 5 people, including 2 tourists, being killed, and 11 people being injured. The assassination attempt came about after members of Wah Ching vandalised the graves of Joe Boys' members, breaking an unspoken taboo of respecting the dead.

MOVE

MOVE was a back-to-nature, anti-technology group in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the 1970s and 1980s. They were involved in two shootouts with the Philadelphia police.

August 8, 1978, Powelton Village. During an attempt to forcibly remove the group from the home in which they were living, a shootout took place between the police and the group; one police officer was killed. Nine of the group members were tried and sentenced for murder.

Deaths: Police: 1; MOVE: 0

May 13, 1985, Osage Avenue. In a failed attempt to serve arrest warrants on four members of the group, Philadelphia police became engaged in a gun battle at MOVE�$(Bs �(Bcommunal residence. About 10,000 rounds of ammunition were fired by the police. The police dropped a bomb on the house, starting a fire that burned down 62 houses and killed 11 people.

Deaths: MOVE: 11 (6 adults, 5 children); police: 0

Norco Bank Robbery Shootout

May 9, 1980. Shootout between police in Norco, California and five heavily armed suspects armed with assault rifles as well as various explosive and incendiary devices. After a shootout with police at a bank in Norco, the suspects became involved in a prolonged chase in which the suspects shot at police, disabled 33 police vehicles, and civilian cars with ieds thrown from the back of a truck. The suspects also disabled a police helicopter. Later the suspects lay in wait for police as they chased them and ambushed them resulting in the death of a police officer and injury to others. One of the suspects was killed in the shootout, one during a standoff with Police, and three were later captured. 8 officers were injured.
Deaths: Suspects: 2; Police: 1

See: [Riverside sherriffs association account], [Related news article about event]

Gordon Kahl

February 13, 1983. Tax protester Gordon Kahl shoots it out with U.S. Marshals when they attempt to arrest him in Medina, North Dakota.

Deaths: U.S. Marshals: 2; Kahl: 0

June 3, 1983. Gordon Kahl is killed in a shootout with federal agents and the local sheriff in Smithville, Arkansas, in the house where he was hiding out.

Deaths: Kahl: 1; Sheriff: 1

FBI Miami Shootout

April 11, 1986. Two FBI agents and two suspects are killed in a prolonged shootout between the FBI and bank-robbery suspects William Matix and Michael Platt in Miami, Florida.

Deaths: FBI: 2; Suspects: 2

Ruby Ridge

August 1992. In a 10-day siege, agents of the BATF, FBI, and U.S. Marshals shoot it out with Neo-Nazis Randy Weaver and his family in the wilderness near Bonners Ferry, Idaho.

Deaths: Weavers: 2 + 1 dog; Federal agents: 1

Branch Davidian Siege

February 28April 19, 1993. Members of the Branch Davidian sect exchange gunfire with federal agents of the BATF raiding their church building, initiating a 51-day siege by the FBI near Waco, Texas.

Deaths: Branch Davidians: 6 (+ 76 on April 19); BATF: 4

North Hollywood Shootout

February 28, 1997. Following a bank robbery in North Hollywood, California, two heavily armed and armored bank robbers shoot it out with 350 officers of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Deaths: Bank robbers: 2; Police: 0

Toddler dies in shootout

July 10, 2005, Los Angeles, California. José Raul Peña, while high on cocaine, threatened his wife, took his 19-month-old daughter Suzie Marie Lopez (or Susie Marie Peña) hostage, then used the child as a human shield while he shot it out with the LAPD SWAT team. Peña fired more than 40 shots at the police and the police fired more than 100 rounds at Peña.

Deaths: Peña: 1; child: 1; police: 0

See: [CNN News], [LA Times], [NewsMax.com]

 


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