1 I vote manslaughter charges for the shooter and a juicy civil suit for the department, for setting up such an incredibly dangerous "training" stunt. Interesting note from the CNN coverage is that the shooter was using a revolver rather than his duty pistol, and the department was "unaware" there was any live ammo for it. Actually, can the whole gang be charged with aiding and abetting?

-j

2 The bad guy's "gun" should have been a toy squirt gun, and firing it should have been him shouting "Bang! Bang!". There was no good reason for him to be using a real pistol, let alone for it to be loaded with anything.

3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_integrated_laser_engagement_system

I've used it and it uses blanks in the normal rifle that you'd be carrying anyways.  Of course, we double and triple checked stuff that people were using and you most certainly were not allowed to bring a privately owned weapon to MILES training.

Maybe the cops weren't using something like MILES.  I haven't fully thought about the ramifications of them doing so; it isn't all positive.

4 The dead woman was playing the "officer" role, so they handed her something to "shoot" with. I haven't seen a story that included that detail, but I'm betting it wasn't a real gun with alleged blanks.

-j

5 I have no issue with bringing the hammer down on the people that allowed live rounds to be fired in the training.

That would have happened to me if I or my NCOs allowed that to happen on a training exercise.

My point was that it isn't true that one should not use real weapons during training.

(Honestly, my father's teaching was to consider any weapon to be loaded and able to kill.  I still fill with anger if I see someone waving a weapon around as if it were a toy, so I see Steven's point and see the value in it.  One wishes that your local police aren't a set of Barney Fife clones.)