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Shoot to Kill: Cops Who Have Used Deadly Force
Recounts the dramatic, true stories of police officers who have experienced the terrible moment when instinct, adrenaline, abject terror, and courage in the line of duty joined together in a split second and led them to shoot to kill. Reissue.
- GenresCrime
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 1994
7 people want to read
About the author
Charles W. Sasser
61 books59 followersCharles W. Sasser has been a full-time freelance writer/journalist/photographer since 1979. He is a veteran of both the U.S. Navy (journalist) and U.S. Army (Special Forces, the Green Berets), a combat veteran and former combat correspondent wounded in action. He also served fourteen years as a police officer (in Miami, Florida, and in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he was a homicide detective). He has taught at universities, lectured nationwide, and traveled extensively throughout the world. He has published over 2,500 articles and short stories in magazines ranging from Guideposts, Parents and Christian Life to Soldier of Fortune, True West, and Writer's Digest. He is author, co-author or contributing author of more than 30 books and novels.
As an adventurer, Sasser has, at various times: solo-canoed across the Yukon; sailed the Caribbean; motorbiked across the continent; rode camels in the Egyptian desert; floated the Amazon River; dived for pirate treasure; rode horses across Alaska; motorcycled Europe; climbed Mount Rainier; ran with the bulls in Spain; chased wild mustangs...
He has been a professional rodeo clown and bronc rider; professional kickboxer; sky diver and SCUBA diver; college professor; newspaperman; archaeologist/anthropologist...
Sasser now lives on a ranch in Chouteau, Oklahoma with wife Donna where he is a writer, rancher, and businessman who trains horses and team ropes. He also has a private pilot's license and is an ultralite aircraft Certified Flight Instructor.
As an adventurer, Sasser has, at various times: solo-canoed across the Yukon; sailed the Caribbean; motorbiked across the continent; rode camels in the Egyptian desert; floated the Amazon River; dived for pirate treasure; rode horses across Alaska; motorcycled Europe; climbed Mount Rainier; ran with the bulls in Spain; chased wild mustangs...
He has been a professional rodeo clown and bronc rider; professional kickboxer; sky diver and SCUBA diver; college professor; newspaperman; archaeologist/anthropologist...
Sasser now lives on a ranch in Chouteau, Oklahoma with wife Donna where he is a writer, rancher, and businessman who trains horses and team ropes. He also has a private pilot's license and is an ultralite aircraft Certified Flight Instructor.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 31, 2022
Shoot to Kill: Cops Who Have Used Deadly Force by Charles W. Sasser is the book you can look for when trying to understand what being a cop in a shootout is like. The book is a non-fiction anthology consisting of 34 different stories about law enforcement and the details of the shootings that occurred. Every story goes over the events at the start of the day then leads to the intense shootouts between police officers and suspects, then what happened to the officer and suspects after. One story describes a Southern Florida officer surviving a shot at point-blank range during a bank robbery firefight. The officer managed to kill one of the bank robbers despite his injuries and severe blood loss. The compilation of true crime stories is an intriguing and entertaining way to investigate police experiences.
With the significant increase in shootings in the past decade, the roles of police officers against active shooters have been a topic of discussion. News stations and online media closely cover the deadly shootouts between police and suspects. However, critics of law enforcement argue that police officers’ ability to use deadly force is taken advantage of and is not used responsibly. But with 2021 being the highest police casualty amount since 1786, are the potentially deadly confrontations that cops run into not being acknowledged? In the light of these events, this book gives an insight into what being a police officer is like in deadly situations.
As for Charles W. Sasser, he is a veteran of the U.S. Navy and Army and had served 14 years as a police officer. His first-hand experience in combat as a veteran and officer allows him to portray situations as accurately as possible. His detailed description of injuries creates strong imagery of the experiences of being a police officer in a firefight. However, what the book lacks is the prior knowledge of the officers. Many of them are not given many descriptions or context which creates inauthenticity in the story. Further descriptions of officers added will create relatability between officers and readers.
The book is structured in the form of many short stories each about 5-10 pages long which leaves little room for filler and gets straight to the point. With each story being very short the interesting experiences of police officers can be enjoyed in less than 20 minutes. Many of the other novels written by Sasser include similar topics and structures of nonfiction short stories depicting law enforcement work and the harsh reality that comes with it. His work is formatted closely to how old pulp fictions were made; short action-packed stories that narrate a protagonist trying to take down the antagonist.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys true crime and action stories but doesn’t have a lot of time to spare. This novel is mainly meant for male adults/YA as the action and descriptions of violence are more graphic. I would even recommend this novel to critics of the use of deadly force as the book does not glorify the use of lethal force in any way. A lot can be learned from the life-threatening experiences documented in this book as well as the dangers police officers put themselves in front of.
Shoot to Kill: Cops Who Have Used Deadly Force
With the significant increase in shootings in the past decade, the roles of police officers against active shooters have been a topic of discussion. News stations and online media closely cover the deadly shootouts between police and suspects. However, critics of law enforcement argue that police officers’ ability to use deadly force is taken advantage of and is not used responsibly. But with 2021 being the highest police casualty amount since 1786, are the potentially deadly confrontations that cops run into not being acknowledged? In the light of these events, this book gives an insight into what being a police officer is like in deadly situations.
As for Charles W. Sasser, he is a veteran of the U.S. Navy and Army and had served 14 years as a police officer. His first-hand experience in combat as a veteran and officer allows him to portray situations as accurately as possible. His detailed description of injuries creates strong imagery of the experiences of being a police officer in a firefight. However, what the book lacks is the prior knowledge of the officers. Many of them are not given many descriptions or context which creates inauthenticity in the story. Further descriptions of officers added will create relatability between officers and readers.
The book is structured in the form of many short stories each about 5-10 pages long which leaves little room for filler and gets straight to the point. With each story being very short the interesting experiences of police officers can be enjoyed in less than 20 minutes. Many of the other novels written by Sasser include similar topics and structures of nonfiction short stories depicting law enforcement work and the harsh reality that comes with it. His work is formatted closely to how old pulp fictions were made; short action-packed stories that narrate a protagonist trying to take down the antagonist.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys true crime and action stories but doesn’t have a lot of time to spare. This novel is mainly meant for male adults/YA as the action and descriptions of violence are more graphic. I would even recommend this novel to critics of the use of deadly force as the book does not glorify the use of lethal force in any way. A lot can be learned from the life-threatening experiences documented in this book as well as the dangers police officers put themselves in front of.
Shoot to Kill: Cops Who Have Used Deadly Force
Displaying 1 of 1 review