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View Full Version : Police Helicopter shot down in Virginia


normalbloke
20th Jan 2010, 09:44
It seems after a multiple fatal shooting on the ground, the Beeb are reporting that a Police helicopter has been shot at, forcing it to land with a ruptured fuel cell.Quite a shot.

BBC News - Virginia gunman kills eight and shoots down helicopter (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8469314.stm)

Eight people - all of them adults - have been shot and killed by a lone gunman in the US state of Virginia.
Police say seven bodies were found at one home, while an eighth shooting victim was found at the side of the road and died on the way to hospital.
Officers say they have surrounded a suspect in woodland just outside the central town of Appomattox.
At one point, a police helicopter was fired on and forced to land with a ruptured fuel tank.
All the victims were adults and both men and women were killed, state police Sergeant Thomas Molnar said.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47145000/gif/_47145773_virginia_appomattox1_jan10.gif
Police said at a media briefing that officers from across the state had been brought in to the area.
Police dogs and a National Guard helicopter with thermal imaging equipment were being used to search the woods.
"We have him [the gunman] contained, we're fairly sure of that," they said.
A number of people living in the sealed-off wooded area have been evacuated.
It is not known what prompted the shootings.
Appomattox is about 160km (100 miles) south-west of Virginia's capital Richmond.

chopper2004
20th Jan 2010, 11:00
Was it a State Police Bell 407 hit by a round? Couldn't imagine it being the BO-105 or Bk-117 as they're used for EMS.

mickjoebill
20th Jan 2010, 12:20
Virginia gunman kills eight, brings down helicopter (http://www.theage.com.au/world/gunman-kills-eight-brings-down-helicopter-20100120-mkjf.html)

In a press conference 4 shots were said to have hit the helicopter.

Mickjoebill

SpeedbirdXK8
20th Jan 2010, 12:32
I am told that in Colombia the helis are fitted with bullet proof fuel tanks because of the drug cartels using the same tactic to bring them down and to prevent hijacking from the ground.