Headshot: Learning to Make That Single, High-Pressure Shot

What to know

Law enforcement agencies conduct periodic qualifications, often regulated by states but designed individually, with a recommended multi-event format exposing officers to various scenarios, including day and night training.
A key addition to qualification is a one-round hostage rescue shot, which should be pass/fail to ensure competency in critical situations.
Training and qualification logistics vary, requiring shift coordination, with smaller agencies sometimes relying on allied agencies for coverage during training sessions.

Every agency has some sort of qualification. Some are annual, or bi-annual. Many states regulate for whom and how often the qualification must be conducted, but leave it to the individual agency to design how they will conduct their qual. I advocate for a multi-event qual, one that places officers in various scenarios. In this manner, officers can be exposed to both a day and a night qualification.

There is one thing I always like to add: A one-round hostage rescue shot. Like any other aspects of qualification, this one should be pass/fail.

There are several different approaches to training and qualification, but almost every approach requires one shift to fill, while the other shift does their training and qualification. Agencies with jail or custody divisions rarely overlap. That is, no one who is working the street covers the jail for training, or vice-versa. Some agencies with only a handful of officers may use allied agencies to help with coverage while they train.

If your position involves scheduling training and qualification, the hostage rescue shot qualification is the event where the officer should qualify in full duty uniform, using duty rounds.

When it comes to delivering an effective hostage shot, precision is critical. The shot on the left hostage taker is an acceptable shot for qualification, but it is likely that it won't cause the desired disruption. On the right target, the lower shot is a good shot, but won't give the desired effect either. The shot farthest to the right enters the left eye of the hostage taker. This will likely cause the desired effect.

Simple qualification

The mechanics for this qualification is very simple. Using the qualification target typically used by the agency, outline a “T” that draws a border around the eyes and nose. This can be an imaginary outline, one drawn on the target, or using a preprinted target with a T.

The officer begins by facing away from the target on the 7-yard line with a holstered gun. On the command to engage, the Officer faces the target and delivers one shot into the T within 10 seconds. A qualifying shot must be fully inside, or touch, the T.

This qualification strategy has to be a task, among other tasks.

I would use a Birchwood Casey Dirty Bird Splattering Target for the qualification component. It has a hostage target that stands in front, and partially covers, two hostage taker targets, on the right and left side of the hostage. The hostage’s head covers half the face of each of the bad guys. Each hit creates a splatter pattern on the paper, which gives immediate feedback. Because there are two “bad guy” silhouettes per target, officers can have two attempts at qualification per target.

I like this target because it requires a precision shot to successfully neutralize the bad guys. The shooter has to fly the bullet into the exposed eye of the target. Hitting the forehead or the chin will not work.

The T-Zone

In military small arms training, some units taught soldiers to engage the” T-Zone,” often called the “T-box,” an imaginary “T” that encompasses both eyes and the nose all the way down to the upper lip. I know that most people have an image that this is a common sniper target, but this training was mostly employed by MP units, not sniper teams.

In the Marine Combat Pistol Program, there is a “failure to stop” component of the qualification, where the target includes a headshot. There are two things I can tell you about Marine marksmanship. First, “Every Marine a rifleman” is not just a bunch of words. The Marines I trained with as a Small Arms Instructor (before CPP) consistently shot better than other branches. Second, their emphasis is based on “target neutralization,” not target scoring. Even though the MPMS-1 target, the standard target for Marine pistol qual, has a head-sized outline, the smaller concentric scoring circle only covers the face.

We were told that a person shot in the T-box would experience an immediate shutdown of the nervous system, described as flaccid paralysis. Flaccid paralysis incapacitates a person immediately.

Flaccid paralysis is such an immediate incapacitation that, even if they had their finger on the trigger of a gun, the neural shutdown would interrupt the ability to fire a gun. Apparently, this includes subsequent involuntary muscle contractions.

I have had training on this phenomenon, but the best confirmation I can give here is what eyewitnesses have told me. At a crime scene, one person told me that a shooting victim “just dropped straight down,” demonstrating a collapsing motion. I heard this from several witnesses later on.

Some of the concepts of delivering this type of potentially lethal force is surrounded by legend and rumors, so let’s get this out of the way first. It is extremely difficult to hit any target within the confines of a dynamic situation. That is, it is hard enough to hit the head in a shooting situation. If we add the parameter of getting the shot in the T-Zone, it appears nearly impossible.

Having said this, I have trained with professionals who can deliver reliable headshots in a variety of situations, on demand, in any condition.

The scenario

As you know, if I cannot print within a 4” circle at 7 yards, I will not carry that particular gun. This ability has nothing to do with the accuracy of the gun, as most are capable of this kind of accuracy. This has to do with the gun fitting me, and the design agreeing with my capabilities and training.

The ability to deliver this kind of shot doesn’t exactly cover a large range of scenarios either. It does cover one, however, and we should be prepared for it. The hostage rescue headshot is for a hostage scenario where the victim is in imminent danger and negotiation is not working.

Simple training

Hitting a T-Zone target is pretty straightforward, provided the target is facing the shooter. It gets a bit more complicated when the target is at an oblique angle. Although the qualification can be a simple, the training should be complex.

I use Birchwood Casey 3D Torso Targets. You have seen them before in (Dimension: Training With 3D Targets - www.officer.com/53068220). Set up several static targets, each facing at a different angle. From the 7-yard line, have officers fire headshots at the T. Allow officers to engage each target on the line. This will give each officer an opportunity to visually estimate the best shot placement for each angle.

Add variety to the scenario by placing a “no shoot” hostage in front of the headshot target. Create additional scenarios by adding a failure drill, where the shooter fires at center mass twice, assesses the target, then follows up with a headshot. If a failure drill is incorporated, require the shooting sequence to begin with verbal commands.

When it comes to training, I always resort to what my daughter’s basketball coach used to tell her players: Never end a foul shot session with a miss. For headshot training, always finish with a successful engagement. This is especially critical with this type of training.

The decision-making process

I have, in at least two occasions, had to aim at the T on a real person in real time. I was negotiating, but there was no hostage in any of these scenarios. In these situations, the person held a gun at their own head, and alternated between pointing it at their own head, and pointing the gun at me. I was behind sufficient cover and it would have been an easy shot for me, mechanically, at least.

Psychologically, not so much. Because of this, it would be wise to do some multi-echelon training on headshots. While the officer on the street is training on how to successfully deliver a headshot at the appropriate time, in a legal manner, the agency can be training their administrators how to provide support for the officer whose hand was forced in this manner.