Deedy witness: Officers trained to draw weapons ‘to stop threat’
Defense witness Kenneth Amiano demonstrated in Aug. 2013 how a federal officer might draw his weapon and pull the trigger if confronted in a life and death situation.
A retired chief trainer of federal officers said in state court Friday that agents who go to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center are instructed and trained to draw their firearm only if they intend to use it.
“They’re not to use the weapon as a compliance tool, not supposed to point the weapon and say, ‘If you come closer I’ll shoot you,” said Kenneth Amiano.
He said, “The weapon comes out with the intent to use the weapon. The weapon is to be used to stop the threat.”
The officers and agents are trained to aim at center mass, the middle of the body, he said.
Amiano testified as a defense witness in the Christopher Deedy murder retrial.
Deedy, 30, a U.S. State Department special agent, is on trial for murder for fatally shooting 23-year-old Kollin Elderts in a Waikiki McDonald’s restaurant in November 2011. Deedy was in Honolulu to provide security for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference. This is his second trial in the case because the first one last year ended with a hung jury.
