A San Antonio man is not expected to face charges after his car was stolen and a confrontation with the suspected thief ended in fatal gunfire on Wednesday, March 29, police said.
The man’s vehicle was stolen from his Northside home on Wednesday afternoon, police said. But by using an Apple AirTag, he was able to track his truck down to a shopping center on the Southeast Side in the 3200 block of Southeast Military Drive.
SAPD spokesperson Nick Soliz said the man called police to report his vehicle as stolen, but did not wait for police to arrive before attempting to confront the suspected car thief around 4 p.m.
Police said the man saw his truck in the parking lot, walked up to the stolen vehicle in an attempt to confront the person inside, and some sort of disagreement ensued. Soliz said he could not confirm if the man and the suspected thief argued, but said the car theft victim told police he believed the suspected thief pulled out a gun which prompted “a firefight.”
Police said that, at this time, they believe the car thief victim is the only person to have fired shots and could not confirm if there was more than one weapon found at the crime scene.
The suspected thief, another man, was shot and pronounced dead, Soliz said. His identity has not been released. The car theft victim reportedly stayed at the scene of the shooting, complied with police, and was taken into custody for questioning. The shooter is not expected to face charges, Soliz said, but noted an investigation is ongoing.
“… I urge the public to wait for police in this matter,” Soliz said in a news conference. “Let us go with you. We have training.”
The Type 94 was the standard infantry antitank gun of the Japanese Army during World Ware Two. It was developed in the early 1930s as tensions with the Soviet Union rose; there had not been much need for Japanese antitank weapons in China. However, high explosive ammunition was also made for the gun, and it was used in an infantry support role with HE in China as well as in the Pacific.
The Type 94 was small and light, and could be disassembled for transportation without vehicles – a very useful capability on islands like Guadalcanal. Against US M3 Stuart light tanks, the Type 94 was a reasonably potent weapon.
Note that the Japanese also had a Type 94 tank gun, which was not the same as this – and did not use the same 37mm cartridge.
This trip to Guadalcanal was made possible by War Historian Battlefield Expeditions – big thanks to them!
https://battlefield-expeditions.war-historian.com
Our 1920-vintage Colt Police Positive Special had a serious affinity for Black Hills 148-gr.
Match .38 Special wadcutters. This is 5 shots at 25 yards.
What’s In A Name?
Ask Colt revolver fans to list as many D-Frame models as they can and chances are the results will include fairly well-known names — many decidedly snaky. We’re talking Cobra, Diamondback, Agent, Viper, Detective Special, etc. But the granddaddy of the D-breed was the Police Positive, introduced in 1905. The 1908 Sears Roebuck catalog lists it at $14. The optional “pearl handle” jacked the MSRP up by an additional $2! Here’s a bit of the accompanying copy:
“Has a splendid grip, smooth working action, blued steel finish with fancy rubber handle, but may be fitted a pearl handle … It is the revolver which is adopted by police departments of New York and other large cities.”
Naturally, those on the side of law and order weren’t the only fans of the Police Positive. A nickel-plated 4″ specimen once owned by Chicago’s Al Capone went for a cool $109,080 at the Christie’s Antique Arms, Armour and Collectors auction in 2011.
Smith & Wesson’s Model 10 (top) is larger and heavier than Colt’s Police Positive Special (bottom).
But both were state-of-the-art in their day.
The Last Of Its Kind
In 1977 Colt “updated” the Police Positive Special for the last time. One of the visible cues differentiating it from earlier versions was a shrouded ejector rod. Although this makes sense in a hard-duty gun, it did — in my opinion — remove a lot of the classic Hartford charm from the gun.
About 25 years before Colt brought the curtain down on the Police Positive Special — 1969 to be exact — it was listed at $93.50 (blued). By comparison, the larger blued Official Police was going for $110, while the also-heftier competition Model 10 was bringing S&W a somewhat friendlier $76.50. It might partially explain S&W’s eventual dominance in the LE market.
Winchester’s 158-gr. RNFP Cowboy ammo clocked a hair under 800 fps from our century-old PPS.
While not as accurate as the Black Hills Match Wadcutters, this is nothing to gripe about.
Lightweight Packer
Here’s a by-the-numbers “packability” comparison — the unloaded weight of a 4″ K-Frame Smith Model 10 is 30.5 oz. while Colt’s preeminent duty revolver, the .41-Frame Official Police weighs in at 38 oz. in its 4″ iteration. Our little Colt PPS? A mere slip of a thing at 23 oz.. It’s not much of a shock when you stop to consider it’s essentially an early-series 4″ Detective Special with a square butt. Being an absolute delight to carry is only one of its charms, as I soon discovered.
Feeding The Oldster
My ammo menu for checking our Police Positive Special’s range performance was somewhat limited. I wanted to at least make an attempt to stay within the bullet weight parameters of what was in vogue when the gun was made. I also wanted to do so at standard-pressure “stress levels.” I use Plus-P stuff frequently but I usually avoid shooting it in small frame guns this old. If it would’ve been a modern D-Frame, say a later Detective Special, I might have given the high-test stuff a spin. But why beat up a classic like this?
My three loads were Winchester 158-gr. Cowboy lead RNFP, Black Hills 148-gr. Match Wadcutter and Remington 130-gr. FMJ. I figured the Winchester stuff would be a pretty close approximation of most pre-war “service loads,” while the Black Hills stuff would be a good bet for demonstrating the little Colt’s accuracy potential. The Remington FMJs? These are pretty much a dupe of the service ball load used by pilots packing (usually) S&W K-Frames like the Victory Model in WWII. What I like about them is they’re “bulk-pack practice” cheap and pretty accurate in most guns. Plus, they’re “FMJ clean.” Most 4″ guns I’ve used them in generally produce velocities a bit over 900 fps — what I got with the Police Positive Special.
The 158-gr. Winchester stuff produced a 6-shot 2.5″ group at 25 yards while the Black Hills Wadcutters crowded 5 shots into a spectacular cluster at just under 1.5″. The Remington 130-gr. was almost on a par with the Winchester 158s.
Normally I’m the first guy to piss and moan about tiny, fixed U-notch-rear/blade-front vintage sighting arrangements like this one, but I’m gonna keep my mouth shut here — good bifocals and a nice group or three will do that! Whatever long-ago Colt craftsman regulated these sights knew what he was doing.
An offshoot of the Police Positive Special, the classic Detective Special is probably the most famous Colt D-Frame.
This mid-’60s specimen sports the relatively rare 3″ barrel plus the signature rounded grips.
Making It Go Bang
Trigger-wise, the Police Positive Special really shined in single action — 3.5 lbs. double action? Well, we’re talking about 11 lbs. Not “stagey” with the mid-hitch I remember from most old Colts but with quite a bit of takeup. As much as I love them, shooting one makes you realize why most serious DA guys (say, Ed McGivern) preferred Smiths. The best bet for effective double-action shooting with the old PPS was to take up the slack and pull straight through quickly.
The long-ago ad probably said it best when claiming the Police Positive was “The safest, simplest and most dependable revolver you can buy.”
Desolate and remote, the Falkland Islands have been held by the British since the early nineteenth century.
8,000 miles South of the UK and 400 miles east of Argentina lie the Falklands Islands. The UK has held possession of the Falklands since 1833, and the islands are liberally populated with British subjects, some three thousand or so by 2006.
The Falkland Islands should be a fairly cold but idyllic place. However, folks have been squabbling over these barren rocks for centuries.
Starting with British Captain John Strong in 1690, various despots, regents, and tin pot administrators alternately claimed, occupied, or stole this desolate piece of dirt. At 4,700 square miles, the Falklands enjoyed a fair amount of space. However, its brutal Southern latitude made it an inhospitable sort of place. One of the first commercial endeavors back in the early 19th century actually involved the exploitation of feral cattle.
Margaret Thatcher wasn’t called the Iron Lady for nothing.
Now fast forward to 1982, and the nearby Argentines had their sights set on the windswept rocks of the Falkland Islands. The British had long since passed the apogee of their remarkable empire. Perhaps they wouldn’t notice if Argentina’s military junta government dispatched a few thousand troops to snatch up the Falklands. Sadly, Argentina’s Leopoldo Galtieri woefully underestimated the Iron Lady’s resolve. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was having none of that.
Buildup for War
The British Harrier jump jet was a capable and effective air superiority fighter when deployed against 1980’s-era Argentinian air assets. However, they still needed all the help they could get.
With 8,000 miles of open ocean across which to stage a proper response, the Brits knew that air superiority during the upcoming amphibious counter-invasion was going to be critical. British Sea Harriers would bear the brunt of the air-to-air responsibilities. However, every Argentine airplane that could be neutralized was one less that the Harrier drivers would have to burn out of the sky.
The Argentine-manufactured IA 58 Pucara was a twin-turboprop Close Air Support aircraft.The Beechcraft T-34 Turbo Mentor was an armed version of a two-seat military training plane.
On the Northern aspect of the western Falklands chain lies Pebble Island. This forsaken spit of dirt was home to some twenty-five English subjects and another 2,500 very English sheep. Since the Argentine invasion, the Pebble Island Aerodromo Auxiliar Calderon airfield also housed six FMA IA 58 Pucara twin-engine turboprop ground attack aircraft, four T-34 Turbo Mentor counterinsurgency attack planes, and a single Coast Guard Skyvan transport. Servicing, supporting, and defending these eleven aircraft were about 150 Argentine Marines and aviation personnel.
The Plan
22 SAS laid the basis for modern Special Operations back during World War 2. LTC Stirling is shown here alongside some of his boys in North Africa.
22 Special Air Service Regiment was the foundation of the world’s modern Special Operations units. 22 SAS hearkens back to the Second World War and its first flamboyant commander, LTC Archibald David Stirling. Stirling’s mob of misfits tormented the Nazis from North Africa across Italy and occupied France. Subsequent generations of SAS men were shooting and scooting back when special operating wasn’t cool. In 1982 D Squadron 22 SAS Regiment stood ready to visit their own unique brand of chaos upon the Argentines.
The Klepper canoe is a non-metallic collapsible boat that breaks down into two man-portable components.
The plan was audacious. After an eyes-on recce conducted by Boat Troop of D Squadron 22 SAS via Klepper canoe, it was determined that there were severe headwinds near the target area. This would ultimately limit the amount of time the commandos could spend on the objective. The operational objectives were therefore reduced from the destruction of the garrison to simply neutralization of the aviation assets.
The Mission
The Westland Sea King HC4 was used for combat assault operations.
On the night of 14 May 1982, forty-five SAS D Squadron operators inserted via two Westland Sea King HC4 helicopters under cover of darkness. A single HC4 has the capacity to lift up to 28 combat-equipped troops. Members of the aforementioned Boat Troop provided approach navigation.
The SAS always had a fondness for the M203 grenade launcher as shown here in the hands of this modern-day re-enactor.
The SAS strike force landed six clicks from the airfield and unloaded some one hundred L16 81mm mortar bombs, demo charges, and a buttload of L1A1 66mm LAWs (Light Anti-tank Weapons). The SAS operators carried American-made M16 rifles along with a disproportionate number of M203 grenade launchers.
The capacity to march extreme distances while carrying ridiculously heavy loads is the bread and butter of the British SAS.
SAS operators are notorious for their simply breathtaking capacity to tab. Tab is short for Tactical Advance to Battle. This is British slang for a forced march across hostile terrain. The SAS assault force successfully infiltrated the airfield, avoiding the Argentine sentries on duty. They eventually set charges on seven of the Argentine aircraft without being detected.
The 22 SAS operators destroyed or disabled all of the combat aircraft on the airfield.
On cue, the SAS operators blew the charges and opened up on the parked aircraft with small arms and LAW rockets. At the same time, naval gunfire from the British destroyer HMS Glamorgan joined in targeting the nearby fuel stores and ammo dump. The preponderance of their ordnance expended, the SAS raiders exfilled to the PZ (Pickup Zone) where they were extracted by the waiting Sea Kings to the HMS Hermes.
The Weapons
The L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle was the standard Infantry weapon of the UK Armed Forces during the Falklands war.
The standard British Army rifle at the time of the Falklands War was the L1A1 SLR (Self-Loading Rifle). This Anglicized FN FAL was used across Her Majesty’s armed forces. However, the SAS opted for the US M16 for its lightweight and high-capacity magazines. Today’s SAS operators wield Canadian-made versions of the M4 Carbine made by Diemaco.
The British SAS appreciated the modest weight and superb maneuverability of the US M16 rifle.
The M16 has served in sundry guises for more than half a century in the US military and should be established dogma to anybody frequenting GunsAmerica. The M203 was the only component of the US Army’s long-running 1960’s-era Special Purpose Individual Weapon (SPIW) program to see adoption. Pronounced “Spew,” the SPIW had to have the coolest acronym in modern military history.
The under-barrel M203 grenade launcher adds a significant indirect fire capability to the individual trooper.
First adopted in 1969, the M203 fired the same 40x46mm grenade as did the standalone M79 break-open grenade launcher. The M203 mounted underneath a standard M16 and allowed the grenadier ready access to an automatic rifle in addition to the single-shot grenade launcher.
The M433 HEDP (High Explosive Dual-Purpose) round fired by the M203 has an effective casualty radius of five meters and will penetrate two inches of rolled homogenous steel armor.
The 40mm grenades fired by these weapons operate on the High-Low Propulsion System first developed by the Germans during World War 2. The Germans referred to this concept as the “Hoch-und-Niederdruck System,” and it allows a relatively-heavy, low-velocity round to be safely fired via a handheld weapon.
The disposable L1A1 LAW is a relatively lightweight anti-armor weapon that is also useful against fixed fortifications and material.
The L1A1 LAW is a single-shot disposable 66mm unguided antitank weapon. Originally an American contrivance, the US designation was the M72. The solid rocket motor was developed in 1959 at Redstone Arsenal, and the M72 first saw service in 1963. The M72 replaced both the M31 HEAT (High Explosive Antitank) rifle grenade and the cumbersome M20A1 Super Bazooka.
The aluminum inner tube of the L1A1 LAW telescopes into the fiberglass outer shell.
The L1A1 LAW consists of a telescoping aluminum tube within an external fiberglass cylinder with pop-up front and rear sights. When collapsed and sealed the LAW is waterproof. A percussion cap firing mechanism ignites the rocket, and a mechanical setback safety built into the warhead does not arm the piezoelectric detonator until the rocket has accelerated out of the tube.
The spring-loaded cover drops away when the rear cap is pivoted open.The spring-loaded sights deploy when the LAW is extended for use. The black rubber device in the middle is the trigger bar. The manual firing mechanism on the far right is pulled forward to arm the rocket.
To fire the L1A1 LAW you pull the safety pin and remove the spring-loaded back cover. This allows the front cover to drop away as well, while the rear cover pivots down to serve as a shoulder brace. Grip the front and back of the weapon and extend it briskly. This movement releases the spring-loaded front and rear sights to deploy. Put the weapon on your shoulder, pull the striker handle forward to arm the mechanism, point the thing at something you dislike, and squeeze the trigger bar.
There is a great deal of violence inherent in firing a LAW rocket. This thing veritably explodes off your shoulder.Care must be exercised to avoid the backblast area upon firing.
Firing the LAW is nothing like the movies. The entirety of the solid rocket motor is consumed prior to the rocket’s leaving the launch tube, and the open back of the tube makes the LAW essentially recoilless. The backblast, however, is subsequently ferocious.
The fins remain folded until the rocket leaves the launch tube.
Once the weapon is fired, six folding fins deploy to stabilize the rocket in flight. Muzzle velocity is 475 feet per second, and the thing makes a simply incredible racket.
The LAW is a proven and effective weapon system.
Max effective range is 200 meters, and later versions of the standard HEAT warhead will burn through about 12 inches of rolled homogenous steel armor. The LAW rockets used in the Pebble Island raid weighed about 8 pounds and cost about $750 apiece. Though augmented in US service in 1987 by the Swedish AT-4, the LAW remains in use around the world today.
The Rest of the Story
Subsequent aerial reconnaissance verified the destruction of all Argentine aircraft on the airfield.
As a result of intense shelling by the HMS Glamorgan the defending Argentines remained under cover for the most part throughout the raid. Presuming the attack to be the opening salvoes in a general invasion, the Argentine commander ordered the runway destroyed. The Argentines detonated prepositioned area denial charges underneath the runway and cratered it. Shrapnel from these charges injured one of the SAS operators. The Argentinian commander was subsequently killed by British small arms fire during the attack.
The tactical aircraft on Pebble Island were all rendered unusable for the duration of the Falklands War.
The original plan had the assault force redirecting their fire on the Argentinian garrison after ensuring the destruction of the attack aircraft. However, after exfilling the wounded man the ground force commander made the decision to return to the Hermes. This on-the-spot decision no doubt ultimately saved a great many lives.
The Pebble Island raid accomplished its primary objective without loss of life among the British attackers.
The Pebble Island raid accounted for all eleven aircraft as well as the ammo and fuel dump and was considered a rousing success. Considering that destroying airfields full of Axis aircraft during WW2 was considered a bit of an SAS specialty, the Pebble Island raid seemed fitting.
CPT Gavin John Hamilton commanded the ground element during the Pebble Island raid. Killed in action less than a month later, he was 29 years old.
Sadly, CPT Gavin John Hamilton, the ground force commander, was killed three weeks later while on a covert reconnaissance mission some forty miles behind Argentine lines. Colonel Juan Ramon Mabragana, the commander of the Argentine Commando unit that killed CPT Hamilton, later described him as “the most courageous man I have ever seen.”
The British SAS is justifiably viewed as one of the world’s premiere Special Operations units.
Who Dares Wins.
Brutally selected and exquisitely well-trained, 22 SAS is the tip of the spear.
