00:13

Speaker 1
Welcome to Leo Roundtable at leoroundtable.com. My name is Chip Debloc, and I'm your host. We're a group of law enforcement professionals that talk about today's news and issues, but we do it from a law enforcement perspective. And let me introduce the crew, guys, if you don't mind waiting for the video portion of our show. Uh, we have Dr. Joel Schultz, retired police chief. He's residing in the, uh, beautiful state of Colorado right now. And all the way from California, we've got Chief Ralph Ornelas, former commander with the LA County Sheriff's Office, and then he became... did the chief thing over there, and he, and he's, and h- and he's still there. He's- he loves California. So thank you, gentlemen, for being on the show. A shout-out to our sponsors. You know, our title sponsor is gullace@gullace.com. And don't forget that discount code. It's REDEO15. If you want 15% off your next purchase at gullace.com, type in REDEO15.

00:56

Speaker 1
We also have complytechnologies.com, our satellite sponsor, gunlearn.com, mymedicare.live. We have safeguardrecruiting.com and twobells.com. They both have a new online store at leoroundtable.com. If you want cool gear like the shirt that I'm wearing or the coffee mug behind me, um, check it out. And also a shout-out to Bryan Burns for the Free Press at tampafp.com. Thanks for carrying our content, Bryan. Also, Ray Dieterich with formerlawman.com, and our very own Travis Yeats with lawofficer.com. Thanks to all those entities for helping make this show happen. And now, what in the world are we talking about? Yes. You know, unfortunately, another assassination attempt on President Donald Trump, and we're talking about this guy who termed himself as the friendly federal assassin. We're gonna be covering that first. Then we've got, um, LA Times, um, it's on, uh, it's on ABC7 Los Angeles Daily News, and a lot...

01:43

Speaker 1
We have a- a little over a four and a- $14.5 million verdict obtained in retaliation in a discrimination lawsuit against LAPD on behalf of four LAPD officers. Can't wait till you hear what happened. And then we've got body cam video, uh, a Houston police officer, uh, there's a fatal shooting between a man and a Houston cop. That's interesting. A lot to talk about. Then we have a man wielding a 13-inch kitchen knife at a New York City grocery store before police end up shooting him. And then we've got another one, a- a badge, gun, and PTSD. Texas Supreme Court, it backs the DPS firing of a ranger after a school standoff. We've got... We haven't covered it yet. We've got a K9, uh, that the, uh, paramedics were trying to save, and they got in some trouble for using, uh, human resources on the K9. And then, uh, anyhow, a- a- as time permits, we'll get to all that stuff. Uh, we have another one, a- a K9 in Florence, um, accused of biting, uh, a bad guy. We got that on- on video as well.

02:42

Speaker 1
Uh, so guys, if you, uh, if you don't mind, let's start off with the main topic. And there are a few news sources here. We have the first two articles are from the Tampa Free Press at tampafp.com. Then we have Red Voice, uh, Red Voice Media at rvmnews.com. And then the last one is taken from a Rumble channel called the Liberty Daily. You'll remember that when we talk about the guy that they had on, a former Green Beret guy. But let's start off, um, the, uh, the first two articles at Tampa Free Press. "Friendly Federal Assassin: Inside the Twisted Mind of the WHCA," which is the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, "gunman." So, he's a 31-year-old guy from California. He's in custody after the shooting at the Washington Hilton that happened, you know, Saturday night. I- I'm hoping that just about everybody should be familiar with this. Um, an- an attack that federal investigators believe was politicall- politically motivated.

03:32

Speaker 1
He was targeting President Donald Trump and his administration. Now, I'm not gonna give the bad guy's name, but he was a computer engineer and a tutor, allegedly tried to breach a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. He was armed with multiple firearms and knives, and he forced the president offstage. And of course, hundreds of guests are, like, diving for cover under tables and stuff, and dishes and plates are crashing and stuff. And just minutes before this went down, he sent a rambling 1,000-word manifesto to his family members. He referred to himself as the "friendly federal assassin." He rowd- uh, railed against various Trump administration policies. Look, this guy, uh, is not the sharpest tool in the shed. Uh, there's a lot of misinformation that's out there, and if you're... in my opinion, if you're weak-minded, you may fall for some of this stuff, but obviously, this stuff wasn't... the information wasn't vetted.

04:22

Speaker 1
But that's another issue we need to talk about, about who's putting out th- these, um, you know, this bad info. But he did not name the president directly, but he made frequent references to the president, um, expressed deep grievances over specific government actions, including US military strikes on drug-smuggling vessels in the Pacific. And the note opened with a casual, "Hello, everybody," before it went into all these apologies to coworkers and students, religious justifications for what he was gonna do, and taunting critique of the hotel's, uh, security. He, uh, expressed surprise that he was able to enter the Hilton with weapons undetected despite the event's high-profile nature. His brother contacted police in New London, Connecticut at 10:49 PM after receiving the writings, that email, um, but that was two hours after the shooting had already occurred.

05:07

Speaker 1
And federal agents interviewed this bad guy's sister in Maryland, and she said that her brother had legally purchased a .38 caliber pistol and a 12-gauge shotgun in the state of California and was hiding them at their parents' home in Torrance without the parents' knowledge.And then she goes on to say that her brother is someone prone to making radical statements, so there's a couple flags there too. She was aware of that. Um, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed that our bad guy traveled by train, and that's another flag. There's a reason why he did that from California to Chicago before arriving in Washington, DC where he checked into the Hilton as a guest. A- and this, he did this days before the event. Um, and of course weapons were undetected because he was by train instead of by plane.

05:51

Speaker 1
It says it appears that he was setting out to target the folks that work in the administration, likely includ- including, um, the president and Blanche said, he's, he was talking on Meet the Press when he's given all this information, our bad guy has a master's degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills, and a mechanical engineering degree from Caltech, if you can believe that. And he had a previous public profile as a promising inventor. Um, I wanna, I just wanna, I'm gonna get through the rest of this real quick so we can talk about all of it. The manifesto fallout. So Trump appeared on 60 Minutes with Norah, uh, O'Donnell and they had a little clash about the manifesto. So this confrontation, um, it, it started when O'Donnell read excerpts from the manifesto, um, the one that this bad guy emailed out to family members and stuff.

06:35

Speaker 1
And so O- O'Donnell says, "Hey, I'm a citizen of the United States of America," reciting what the manifesto said, uh, "What my representatives do reflects on me and I'm no longer willing to permit a pedophile rapist and traitor to coat my hands with his crime." Speaking, of course, presumably about President Donald Trump. Trump immediately took offense, uh, to the inclusion of the quote telling O'Donnell, "Well, I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would because you're horrible people." (laughs) And then O'Donnell doesn't back down. He asks for a reaction and whether he, um, believed the suspect was referring to him, meaning Trump, and Trump got agitated and said, "Hey, I'm not a rapist. I didn't rape anybody. I'm not a pedophile. You read that crap from someone, from, from some sick person and I got associated with this stuff. It has nothing to do with me. I was totally exonerated." And, and it kinda goes south from there.

07:25

Speaker 1
Then we got a Wisconsin brewery owner under fire over free beer offer if Trump gets assassinated. This is from the Minocqua Brewing Company in Wisconsin, and the owner is Kurt Bang- uh, Bengstad, and apparently he was a Democrat or is a Democrat, ran for office previously, and I don't think that he got elected. But, uh, he sent it out saying, "Hey, we almost got, uh, eh, free beer day. Either a brother or sister in the resistance needs to work on their marksmanship, or he, uh, or he faked another assassination to get a positive news cycle. We'll never know. Regardless, we stand at the ready to pour free beer to the day it happens." And that's sick. So that, uh, Minocqua, that's M-I-N-O-C-Q-U-A brewing company in Wisconsin, and that Kirk Bang- uh, Bengstad, you guys need to take note of that. And then we've got the Liberty Daily on rumble.com. The Liberty Daily's got a channel and they've got a former Green Beret guy.

08:19

Speaker 1
Look, I gotta admit that nothing that I checked out on this guy made me aware of how stupid he is, but this Michael Yon guy who gave one of the most ignorant statements I've ever read y- or, or listened to, it, it says, it's titled Former Green Beret Michael Yon on, uh, the WHCD, White House Correspondents Dinner Alleged Shooting: "It's Obviously Fake," and that's in quotation marks. So, some of the stuff he said, "Another fake shooting event with Trump, it's obviously fake." That's what he said. I wrote it down. Uh, and when it comes to this giant war that's been going on for a long time, I'm assuming he's talking about Iran. We- we- we're like, what? Four, four to six weeks in? A long time. And then he talks about Carolyn, uh, Levitt to- shortly after the fake shooting, uh, that she was saying that there would be shots fired at the press event. W- that was a (laughs) , she was describing how hot it was gonna be. It, it wasn't, she wasn't predicting the shooting, obviously.

09:14

Speaker 1
But then he goes on to some stupid stuff saying that, um, this press event, there was some kind of, I don't know, press club event at the, uh, at the White House or wherever they had it. The guy doesn't even know the name of the event, what it was, where it was even at. It was not at the White House. Of course, if we had the ballroom constructed already, it would have been. And then he goes on to say, "I- it's a waste of time. We're in a..." and he was trying to say I think the word huge, but he says puge war using information operation and then he just st- starts, his, he just makes no sense. So I don't know if, if he got hit with a stupid stick or what, but, you know, this Green Beret guy, it's just embarrassing. We've got Scott Start on our show and at least he's educated and talks educated and knows what he's talking about.

09:59

Speaker 1
And this guy is believing that this is all fake shooting and he can't even, doesn't even have his facts together about where the event happened, doesn't know the name of the event, doesn't know, he's calling it a press event, he's calling it a press club event. He's stuttering, stammering. I- I- I was just, I- I was em- I was embarrassed for the Liberty Daily, but I shouldn't think anymore, I shouldn't expect any more from them. So that's what we have. Um, commentary on this, guys? We got little, about a minute and 45 seconds before our first commercial break, and we can obviously come back to it. Chief Schultz?

10:27

Speaker 2
Well, Chip, you're cheating the public by limiting this to a one-hour show because this topic, uh, it goes into mass hysteria, it goes into mental health, it goes into, uh, security efforts, um, strategy. Uh, it- it- it's just a, it's just a rainbow of, of topics to talk about here. Um, and as to the knucklehead that you were just referring to, you know, I appreciate people that were SEALs and Green Berets and, and federal agents, but that doesn't necessarily make them experts in everything. And, um, you know, if I wanted to hear this guy talk about training local allies in jungle warfare, then yeah, I'll take your expertise, but he obviously knows nothing about this. And anybody who says that this was a fake event, um, doesn't understand human behavior, how people react, uh, how complicated these things would be to stage. It- it's a rid- a ridiculous, uh, proposition.

11:25

Speaker 2
Um, I- I'm glad the president and the vice president and the speaker of the House, the first, you know, the whole line of presidential succession, uh, were, were rendered safe. They did have the fourth guy, president, uh, of the Senate, uh, pro tem was in some protected location. But, uh, there was a lot at risk here and, and a lot still remains at risk.

11:46

Speaker 1
Agreed and perfect timing shape. So guys, we're up for our first commercial break. We're not going anywhere. This story, we're gonna be talking about this, uh, for probably the majority of the show. Stick with us. We'll be right back.

11:57

Speaker 3
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12:57

Speaker 1
Hey, welcome back. Leo Roundtable at leoroundtable.com, the law enforcement talk show. My name is Chip DeBlock and I'm your host. We're joined by Dr. Joel Schultz, former police chief and also former Chief Ralph Martinellis from, uh, from the Los Angeles area. And guys, we have been talking about, unfortunately, the, uh, the latest assassination attempt on, l- a legit attempt on President Donald Trump's life. And I know with the commercial break, I know Dr. Schultz, I know that you were talking, but, uh, um, but guys, whoever wants to jump in next. I know that, uh, Chief Ralph wanted to, to, uh, to jump in there. So go ahead, Chief.

13:29

Speaker 4
Yeah, I just wanted to add to, Dr. Joel brought some great points. But, you know, also Jonathan Turley put up a good book. He's writ- he wrote, it's called Rage. And this is the frightening part about what's taking place in society against this president, the rage about him and false narratives about him and, and all- allegations about President Trump. And they've, they've become very myopic and focused on that and that's what's taking place. But also, I gotta talk about, you know, Secret Service. They did a great job on cert- and responding once they heard the shots go out. But also, I believe, as even Rich, your, your friend, Rich Staropoli mentioned, they could have been better in planning a location that's open to guests and they could have magnetometers on, on the outside, inside, and even where the guests come in to check in. And also, how does this suspect get from a, a, a room, conceals himself, puts that shotgun together, and burst into that?

14:33

Speaker 4
So, you know, your, your friend, Rich, and our friend, Rich, bring some key points to that effect, that they can't n- they got to change their approach, hope they write a corrective action plan to how this took place. And, and you know something also? What are the levels of security around a facility like that as a hotel? You can't just pull out of a file an old operation plan. You need to, like, elevate it and change it continually, especially for a president who's already had two lives, you know, um, almost taken his life.

15:06

Speaker 1
Yeah. Good, good point. Uh, Chief Schultz?

15:09

Speaker 2
Yeah, we could remember that that, uh, was also the site of the assassination attempt, very, very nearly successful, of, uh, of Ronald Reagan back in the day. I, I visited that site. Um, y- y- yeah, there's just, there's just so much. I, I think, R- R- Ralph, you know, when, when we talk about this, uh, mental attitude and every- everybody, everybody on the left, uh, looking through Nazi-colored glasses so that the only thing they see when they look at any part of the administration and any part of anybody that voted for or might continue to support the president, um, in, in, uh, even half of his policies is, is suddenly a justifiable, um, dehumanized target for, for violence. And, and the interest- one of the interesting things to me that I, that I heard another commentator point out, this guy was a teacher, an award-winning teacher. Um, you know, we had the, the two ICE-related shootings in Minneapolis and those two people were fairly normal.

16:08

Speaker 2
We're not talking about these, you know, full-blown crackpot, nut-head, uh, John Hinckley mentally ill people, uh, diagnosable. These, these are just, these are people out of the normal strata of society that are being pushed over the edge by this obsession, uh, of the media narratives. And then to come up with all of these commentators that say, "Oh, this has got to be fake. It was staged." Um, I, I, I watched a very interesting video on, um, body language in the room.

16:39

Speaker 4
(sniffs)

16:39

Speaker 2
And, uh, I've, I've got the, the guy's name here, but I've got 18 pages of notes on this thing, so. Um, and, and he showed a video that was synchronized with the gunshots and the, the people on the, on the dais with the president were not reacting initially to the sounds of gunshot because at the time that the at least three gunshots went off, uh, nobody at the table reacted. They reacted to the people who did hear the gunshots. Uh, and there's this kind of a famous shot there where the, where the, uh, illusionist is showing his trick to, uh, the president and the CBS, uh, reporter, uh, to, to the president's left is going like this. And he- she's not reacting to the shots, although all the media portrayal seems that way. She's reacting to the amazement of the trick and then they start seeing this wave of people ducking and diving in the, in the dining room and, and that's when they start to react.

17:36

Speaker 2
Um, I, I, I do think that we're going to see more physical barriers, um, to some of these locations. They had the metal detector, the magnetometer, um, there and it looked like they were about to break it down because most people had already come in. And so they were kind of, kind of slowing down the security, which, you know, was probably an error. Um-Yeah. Y- w- we've gotta understand a lot of protective ... An- and all of us have been involved here in dignitary protection and crowd control, um, and we know that there's much theater, um, involved in security. You wanna look like everything is impenetrable. So, the, the number of, um, Secret Service and, and, uh, Washington DC Metro, uh, cops that were there, and ones that came out of the woodwork, you know, the waiters that all of a sudden were, were, uh, uh, activated because they were, they were, uh, uh, plainclothes undercover Secret Service guys, um, th- their reaction was good.

18:34

Speaker 2
But to have that ability for somebody to run, I think the estimate was 50 yards from the s- visibility starting point at the bottom of the staircase, through the, uh, manned security point, um, that could be traversed in ... I, I did the math on it, in about eight seconds. And so, you know, it's not surprising that, that the agents were kind of taken off guard. And if you ... You guys have been at security checkpoints, and it's just, you know, you can't stay at this constant level of alert. It, it's just physically, uh, impossible to, to, to stay at that high degree of alert. So, you know, it's embarrassing to see the Secret Servant-agent, Service agent, uh, kind of surprised by this guy flashing by, but his reaction was very swift. And, you know, we need to understand that there was no violence in the ballroom itself, and so the layers of security did work, in terms of keeping somebody, uh, from the protected, uh, from the protected party. So, I, I give these guys a lot of grace.

19:32

Speaker 2
There's obviously some after-action stuff they're gonna look at, but, but no event is gonna replicate any other event. They're, they're all anonab- a- anomalous, um, so, you know, it was a, it was a happy ending. Bad guys caught, uh, and I'm grateful.

19:46

Speaker 1
Did, did you, uh, you hear, you hear about the missing wine bottles?

19:51

Speaker 2
Yeah. You know what? If, if I paid $3,000 for a table, I think I might go back and collect my wine bottle.

19:57

Speaker 1
(laughs) Yeah. Oh. And, and, and have you noticed the narrative with the shooting, the, the agent that got shot, have you, have you noticed that shifting a little bit now that we're ... It may be friendly fire instead of the bad guy?

20:08

Speaker 2
Well, that, that could be. Uh, I did wonder how, um ... Yeah. And, and by the way, if, if you have a, a, a ballistics vest on, that does not not hurt if you get shot. (laughs)

20:22

Speaker 1
Oh, yeah. Yeah.

20:23

Speaker 2
So everybody's acting like, "Oh, yeah, he walked away from it. Everything's good." Yeah, you might be aching a little bit.

20:29

Speaker 1
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21:16

Speaker 1
So stay ahead of the game with Comply Technologies and the revolutionary CD3 that hundreds of agencies have already turned to nationwide. And friends, take it from me, when it comes to safety, this is one of the most commonsense, hands-on solutions that's ever come along. Go to complytechnologies.com today. Tell them Chip sent you. Complytechnologies.com. Welcome back. Leo Roundtable at leoroundtable.com, the law enforcement talk show. My name is Chip DeBlock, and I'm your host. We're joined by Dr. Joel Schultz, former police chief, and we've got Chief Ralph Ronnell, former LA County Sheriff's Office, uh, commander and also police chief from California. And w- look, we're, we're still talking about the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump at the, uh, at the White House, uh, uh, you know, the, uh, the press conference dinner. And wow, uh, there's a lot, there's a lot of takeaways, and I know that during the break we were talking about some stuff.

22:04

Speaker 1
I'd kind of like to go into, you know, we're talking about ... Everybody talks about First Amendment, whether we have the right as individual citizens, and even as the media, um, as journalists to be able to ... Or, or do we have to rein in what we talk about, you know? What, what should we, uh, be able to talk about both legally, morally, and ethically? And, uh, and since a lot of these guys that were ... There's some commonality between these guys, Butler and, uh, and down at the, uh, down in, uh, by Mar- Mar-a-Lago and, uh, and, uh, West Palm Beach golf course and now here, a lot of these guys are operating off of false information. And, uh, you could argue that they weren't sharp enough or maybe they're weak-minded to fall for this stuff, they're not vetting the information. But in all honesty, I have a lot of people on a daily basis that approach me, and they're just misinformed about a lot of information.

22:52

Speaker 1
My first question is, "What kind of news sources are you guys listening to?" So is that something ... Since we've got a commonality with these guys, thinking that maybe, like, in this case, Trump's a pedophile, he's a rapist, and things that clearly there is nothing even to remotely establish that there's any truth to that at all. And I think that I'm not ... You know, people like me just flat out ... I mean, you can a- you can accuse people of anything, but there's, there's no t- ... There's nothing to it. It, it's just simply not true. Um, is there something that we can do in order to cut down on the rhetoric, and, and is there ... Is accountability too much of a strong word for people like m- me- uh, media outlets and stuff that are, that are stirring the pot and getting guys to, to want to assassinate our president, Chief Schultz?

23:38

Speaker 2
I don't ... The, the only thing that you, you and I can do, uh, is what you're doing, and that is try to, to take a, a professional and fact-based approach to the analysis of some of these things. Um, you know, when ...People are not relying on, uh, facts. They're, they're not understanding the nuances of governance. I'm not an apologist for, um, for Donald Trump. He, he's done a lot of things that I would have advised him very strongly not to do, um, and I, I disagree with, with both of you about his re- his response to, uh, the CBS reporter. I think he handled that poorly. I think just reverting to flat-out denials and, uh, name-calling was not a presidential response. It did not inspire confidence, I think, in, in the public, um, and I think did him more harm than good.

24:28

Speaker 2
He could have calmly responded to that, uh, uh, said that th- those were the words of, of a, a, you know, of, of a person who wasn't thinking straight and just reiterated again that there's, there's no factual basis for those accusations and then, and then moving on. Um, but not, not to say that, that I blame him for the, um, hatred that is, is poured on this guy. Uh, but he is, in many ways, his own worst enemy. You know, the, the person responsible for him losing the reelection in the first term was, was Donald Trump and, and Twitter. Um, and, and I think if there is, um, you know, a backlash during the midterms, it's, it's, you know, it's gonna be laid partly at the president's, uh, feet, not because of policy, but just because of some of the rhetoric, rhetoric that he's, uh, made people, um... Uh, it, it's easy to dislike the guy if you start out with a, a, a predilection to, to dislike the guy because of party politics or accusations in, in the background.

25:33

Speaker 2
Um, but really fact-

25:34

Speaker 1
But you would, you would agree, though... But it's not because him being a pedophile or a rapist though, correct?

25:40

Speaker 2
Yeah, nobody in there... Uh, uh, no. No, not because of that. But, um, but I, I just think his overall response and, and tone could have been better. Now, now frankly, uh, he is, the reason that he is, uh, appreciated by so many and passionately loved by a, a segment of the population is because he's the least presidential and most human president that, that we've known in our lifetime. Um, he doesn't hesitate to, to talk off the cuff. Uh, he's, he's not somebody that's managed or controlled or puppeteered by handlers, and so we, we all like that. And his language is sometimes, uh, rough and, and, uh, uh, petulant and childish, and, you know, that, uh, that appeals to a certain, um, uh, humanity among us as, as well. And his unpredictability is probably one of his strengths in, um, in politics, and, uh, I think, you know, when people, when people talk about his handling of the war, um, you know, a- a- a- against Iran, um, it...

26:47

Speaker 2
He, he's, he keeps them off balance because of who he is, and I think he's very aware of that. It's not just spontaneous off-the-cuff, I'm-not-controlling-myself, I-have-no-filter, I'm-thinking-from, you know, the, the bottom-of-my-brain instead of the front of my brain. Um, I think it's very intentional. It's something that, that, that works for him. Um, but if, if you really don't care what people think, and, and he does, but he doesn't express that exp- uh, explicitly. But if, if you really don't care what people think because I'm the president and I'm the smartest guy in the room, probably the smartest guy on the planet, um, and, uh, you know, me and Jesus are, are like that, um, you're, you're not gonna care what people think. And so you're not gonna measure your words. Uh, he does in diplomacy, I'm sure, and in politics, but in terms of his off-the-cuff remarks in, uh, in the media, and I don't bla- I don't blame him for being mad at the media for the way he's been treated.

27:44

Speaker 2
It's obviously biased, um, reporting, um, on the major networks and, and NPR, um, a- and so I understand his hostility, um, but, um, uh, he's, he's just an easy guy for people who don't want to like him. Uh, he's an easy guy not to like. And, and, and that's, uh, I'm, I'm not saying that because I don't like the guy. I'm so glad that he was elected instead of what our option was at the time (laughs) of the election. Um, and I suspect his influence is going to be largely pos- positive over the next, uh, decade or so, um, but, uh, but he does, uh, he does create some friction.

28:24

Speaker 4
Yeah, you know, uh, Joel, I, I hear what you're saying and, and, you know, being from New York, even in my career, uh, being authentic and, and sometimes blunt, you know, there's a price to pay for that during my career, you know, and... But I gotta tell you, the thing that I respect about him, he's authentic. We, we've had a lot of presidents, you know, uh, in that office who are politicians, and they don't take a true leadership role, and I gotta tell you, he's got to... He has to stand up for himself even when... You're right though, he coulda done a better job articulating, Joel, and you're right. But, you know, when you get punched so many times by so many that sooner or later you have to say something, and it's, and it's all the media, you know. And the other time, side, the other side of the aisle can say whatever they want, and when they're in front of the media, they don't get those hardball questions.

29:20

Speaker 4
They don't get those attacks at all, and I think that's where the f- where's the fairness? And, you know, you talk about the First Amendment. Yes, I believe the media has a right to do... But please, be a little bit fairness and, and good judgment when you are doing it, not only to one person but to all of them. And, you know, it's, it's very, it's very tenuous. It is a fine line, but this man has taken a lot, you know, and I... You know, he's gotta stand up for himself, and I think he doesn't. And maybe you and I and Chip might not do that, but he feels there's no alternative because who's gonna do it for him?

30:00

Speaker 2
And, and I don't disagree with any of that, Ralph, and I, I, I appreciate that, that commentary. Um, and none of this justifies violence, obviously, and none of this justifies the media and, uh, most of the left, or anti-Trump, um, from, uh, focusing on this emotional outrage. I mean, I mean the opposition to Trump is not based on any, uh, any articulated policy from the Democratic Party, for example. It's all, "I don't like Trump." We've got, uh, a governor's race here in Colorado, uh, won from the current attorney general, and the other democratic candidate is, uh, uh, is our senator, Bennet. And both of their campaigns are based on, "I hate what Trump has done." Well, that's not a policy. Th- that's not something that's gonna move the country forward. That doesn't affect me in my, in my pocketbook.

30:50

Speaker 2
And so, this, this emotional focus from the public, which is, um, the flames of which are fanned by, um, a, a very biased media that does, does not, uh, seem to concern itself with the facts and the... One thing, and I'll talk about NPR here a little bit, about public radio and, and-

31:09

Speaker 1
We need to, we need to roll to the next topic too, so go ahead.

31:12

Speaker 2
O- o- okay. They, you know, just this, the inflection and the, the news stories that they, they decide to cover, um, I, I hope that we can be rational enough to recognize, uh, what we're being fed and whether we want to swallow it or not.

31:28

Speaker 1
Hm. And I, and I agree. Trump, you, you, I think Chief Schultz said that Trump was his own worst enemy sometimes, and I, you know, we're (laughs) , as cops, you know, we're thick-skinned. It rolls off. Definitely not with Trump. And, uh, and, uh, I, I, I wish he had that ability, but I, I can't, I don't expect him to be perfect either. But I wish, if he had that, that would, if, if, you know, at least they've taken the Twitter controls away from him, uh, for the most part. It wasn't like it was when he was, like, tweeting about Rosie O'Donnell and everything, so, um, but I, uh, I, but there, I just love him. I mean, and I know the vast, the, the majority of, of, of Americans do too. Um, he's just got that en- that endearing (laughs) , endearing personality. Hey guys, we're up for our, uh, our third commercial break, so stick with us. We'll be right back. All right, guys. It's time to talk about GunLearn at GunLearn.com, and they've got some new stuff going on.

32:20

Speaker 1
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33:04

Speaker 1
And like I said, they've been doing this since 1996 and it involves firearms and ammunition and teaching you what you didn't know, and even if you don't know what you didn't know. If you have your own agency, you can do it as well. GunLearn.com. Welcome back. Leo Roundtable at LeoRoundtable.com, the law enforcement talk show. My name is Chip The Block and I'm your host. We're joined by Chief Joel Schultz and Chief Ralph Ornelas, Colorado and, uh, and California respectively. So, thanks guys for being on the show. We've been talking about the, uh, the latest assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents' Dinner of, uh, President Donald Trump, and I, I, we just did a, I think you guys did a great job about dissecting that and, and showing some flaws in the system, both on, you know, President Trump's side and on the other sides. I, I know that we've got Darcy Chamberlain weighing in from Facebook.

33:50

Speaker 1
Some very good points talking about, uh, what happened on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, which I was actually unaware of, so, um, so thank you for pointing that out, um, as well. If you guys are ready, we have, uh, about, uh, a little less than nine minutes and hopefully two stories that we can get through real quick here. Uh, so let's jump over. Uh, so this is Mc- uh, McNicholasLaw.com. They're excited because they just got a $14.6 million judgment, so this is, uh, this was in the LA Times, ABC7, and Los Angeles Daily News. And, uh, apparently it's a $14.6 million verdict obtained in retaliation and discrimination lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles on behalf of four LAPD officers. And so, this is the law firm that got it done.

34:30

Speaker 1
As reported by, uh, Los Angeles Times, ABC7, Los Angeles Daily News and more, uh, McNicholas & McNicholas secured a $14.6 million jury verdict in retaliation discrimination lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles on behalf of these LAPD officers they were retaliated against for raising concerns at a firearms training facility. They are actually, I believe, have become whistleblowers, so it's a civil lawsuit. It was actually filed six years ago after claims were brought against the City of Los Angeles and the LAPD. The officers reported staffing shortages that left police recruits without proper firearms training. They say that there was unsafe training practices and working conditions as well. Now, the, uh, the trial firm, Mc- uh, McNicholas McNicholas, they obtained a $14.6 million jury verdict on behalf of these four officers, so I'm just trying to say, if, if they take a third of it, which I think is pretty much typical. Uh, uh, uh, am, am I right on that?

35:20

Speaker 1
So, th- they're gonna take about, what, $5 million and leave, maybe, let's just say, $10 million leftover. That's, what, 2.5-... per cop, you know, if we have four cops, so roughly. Um, so, um, LAPD police officers Officer Craig Burns, Alex Chan, Mark Hogan, and Christine Salazar, they were retaliated against, according to this article, um, against, uh, for, for reporting the violations of the law. It kinda goes on to say that, starting way back in 2018, these guys, these four officers, raised concerns regarding unsafe conditions and potential legal violations at LAPD's Davis Training Facility. And some of the stuff they were importing, they were critical staff shortages, police recruits did not have adequate firearms training, uh, training protocols, um, were, were messed up. The concerns were ignored. Instead, in 2019, a year later, following their protective whistleblower activity, that's important, the department initiated an internal affairs investigation.

36:14

Speaker 1
So they started, uh, investigating the whistleblowers, and posed a series of adverse employment actions against all four officers, including demotions, removals from specialized training assignments, and involuntary transfers. And in the female's case, Officer Salazar, the department falsely accused her of participating in the blue flu when she took a day off for legitimate illness. All four plaintiffs filed government claims with the City of Los Angeles and with LAPD in September of 2019. Their complaints were followed in the Superior Court o- of LA in, uh, January of 2020. And wow, um, six years later, $14.6 million. Uh, Chief Ralph, you wanna take this one?

36:54

Speaker 4
You know, uh, it, what bothers me is this. If they had some complaints regarding the, you know, the range, training for the recruits, and their, the environment, whatever it is, you know, to open an IA, not that it's wrong about opening an IA, but why would you want, as executives in an organization, demote them from a Police Officer III to a Police Officer II? See, that's, that's where I, I, I look at that, and I evaluate that being probably Joe could comment after I, I s- make this statement is this. Why would you want to do that to your agency to give, give these plaintiffs more fuel to the fire to substantiate they're mistreated? Yes, if there's something nefarious, you wanna investigate them. Uh, I've done that as a commander, as a chief, investigate, but you don't demote them or change their status where it affects them in a pay or in their position at the training bureau.

37:53

Speaker 4
I mean, I mean, that to me is, is, um, it's, it's negligence on the executive's part to come after people if they had a complaint about something. You don't treat them that way.

38:07

Speaker 1
Yeah. Oh, oh, Chief Schultz?

38:10

Speaker 2
I did wanna say thank you for pointing out some things that we need to, to, to, to change (laughs) for the safety of our officers and the public. You know, uh, training wise, LAPD is flagship for agencies all over America. What LAPD does must be good for, uh-

38:26

Speaker 1
Mm-hmm.

38:26

Speaker 2
... for Podunk, uh, Arkansas.

38:28

Speaker 1
Used to be.

38:28

Speaker 2
And so... So, used to be, yeah.

38:30

Speaker 1
(laughs)

38:31

Speaker 2
So, you know, and it... And I, I, I don't know what the motive was for covering that up when it would have been an opportunity for, for correction. And tho- those, those officers should have been, uh, given an extra ribbon for, uh, product improvement instead of, uh, treated that way.

38:47

Speaker 1
Well, instead $2.5 million. I don't know. Which I don't know. I'd rather have the ribbon. What do you guys think? No? (laughs) .

38:54

Speaker 4
Uh, that's-

38:54

Speaker 1
Are you guys-

38:55

Speaker 4
But go ahead.

38:56

Speaker 1
You ready to jump over to Dallas real quick here? We got, uh, we got three minutes and change. So, uh, rumble.com. This is Butters, the name of the channel. Body cam video shows fatal shooting between a man and a Houston police officer.

39:21

Speaker 5
Drop the bag. Drop the bag. 1713, I got contact. Drop the bag. Drop the bag! Drop the bag. Drop the bag, sir. Drop the bag! Do it! Drop the bag! (gunshots) Sus fired! Sus fired! (gunshots) Sus fired! Stop! (gunshots)

40:18

Speaker 1
I'm gonna go through this quickly, guys. We don't have a lot of time, but we're in, uh, Gulfton, Texas, but we have... A Houston police officer shot and killed a man on Wednesday afternoon after the guy pointed a gun and fired at the officer. So it starts about 3:57, so really late afternoon. Somebody calls the police, and they're reporting a sus- suspicious person carrying a weapon. So that's the first flag you need to remember in your head. This officer locates a guy walking westbound on the roadway. He's... It says he's carrying a pink purse. It looked more like a bag. And then when I looked at it closely, maybe one of these big, oversized purse bagss that women carry. But there was a gun in it, but the cop didn't know that. But again, it's a suspicious purs- person call with, with the dude carrying a weapon. So, cop walks up, does not have his gun drawn.

41:00

Speaker 1
Officer gets out his patrol car, orders the guy, uh, to put the purse down, and, um, and, uh, and, and, and it says to put the gun on the ground. That's not accurate. The, the guy... The officer never referenced the gun. But he's walking up, and he's closing the distance between him and the bad guy. And, and the officer's got nothing in his hands, like no weapon. And it's a we- it's a suspicious person with a weapons call. Um, so the guy reaches in the bag, pulls out a gun. The officer still-... has his gun in the freaking holster, points it at the officer. Now, the article says the guy pulled the trigger and fired. I thought maybe I heard a, a fire before the guy. The officer ended up drawing his gun, points at the bad guy. It takes about two seconds as the officer's backing up before the officer even fires at the bad guy. And I'm just kinda going from my memory on this one because we're short on time. The officer's on the...

41:49

Speaker 1
He backs up to the driver's side of the car, goes around the rear of the car to now he's on the passenger side of this cruiser and he's still engaging in a gunfight with the bad guy, who is now in the middle of the freaking street with no cover. At least the officer had a little bit of cover at this point. Officer does a mag, a mag change and, um, now the bad guy runs into an apartment complex. The officer does give chase and, um, and then the bad guy, he fi- he keeps firing at the bad guy. Bad guy goes down. Officer does a, a second magazine change, so he's on his third magazine, doesn't fire anymore. Bad guys ends up dying. So that's the way that it ends. Uh, Commentary, Chief Schultz?

42:23

Speaker 2
Uh, Ralph can carry this, but I wanna say two things. First of all, good for that cop for chasing somebody that just shot at him, you know, but should he have engaged in that pursuit at that particular time, uh, foot pursuit? Mm, probably not. Also, um, and I may have been the same, I, I'm not, I'm not as highly trained as I'd like to think, but, uh, those mag changes, uh, were a little messy. He had to-

42:45

Speaker 1
They were.

42:45

Speaker 2
... look at them. It was not a true combat thing. And then if you notice after the second mag change, that slide did not go forward. He could not-

42:52

Speaker 1
Yeah.

42:53

Speaker 2
... have pulled that trigger and made a, made another shot.

42:55

Speaker 1
Yeah. You're right.

42:56

Speaker 4
Well, well, let's go back to the beginning. You mentioned and I read, uh, the call came out as a person was seen with a gun, okay, number one. So he should've positioned his car more of an angle, number one. Number two, should never have walked up on this person. You should just use the car as cover, order this person to get down, put the bag down. If he doesn't, guess what? That gun's gotta be coming out, number one. You should be, uh, at your, at your engine block, pointing this gun at him until he obeys commands. And if he wants to run at that point, let him run. Who's gonna outrun a radio, the radio and containment? This, this young officer, Lopez, did not practice the five Cs. The five Cs are command, control, communicate, coordinate, and contain. You know something? I, I really, it really... He's, he's fortunate he's alive. To walk within five feet of this suspect with his gun in his holster, I, I'm telling you, he's blessed. He's blessed to be alive.

43:57

Speaker 1
Yeah. There definitely-

43:58

Speaker 4
I could, I could go, I could go on, but I'm not. We don't have time.

44:01

Speaker 1
Yeah. There's definitely some training and some takeaways here. I would... Even if the o- you know, you know, I know that the closer you get to the bad guy with a car, you're, you're, you're, you know, you're, you're in a, you know... Arguably, you could beat it, uh, unless you're a long ways away, you know, you don't wanna sit there as you're rolling up on the bad guy and get too close to him because then he can charge you and you, you're in the car and you're like in a coffin, you know. But yeah, if the officer had him at gunpoint, he reaches in the bag, you shoot him. I mean, you know, I, I was just waiting for that to happen and, uh, I had to watch the dash cam to figure out the cop certainly never even had his gun unholstered, which is the scariest, the scariest part, so.

44:33

Speaker 4
(sighs) I mean, I would have-

44:34

Speaker 1
Of course.

44:34

Speaker 4
... ca- I would have been coming out of my car with my gun out of my, out of my, my holster right away.

44:38

Speaker 1
Well, I would have. Yeah. It should have been out right away. You're not waiting for anything on a gun call. Yeah. You're absolutely right. Hey, guys, another fantastic show. Chief Joel Schultz and Chief Ralph Renellis, thank you guys so much for being here. A shout-out to our sponsors, gulls.com, complianttechnologies.com, gunlearner.com, americancare.lifesaverrecruiting.com, and twobells.com. Thanks for watching the show, guys. We're back live tomorrow, 12:00 noon Eastern. Be sure to watch the show.