When a Bullet Meets a Bullet, Comin’ Through the Bore…

I’d have to say that this is one way to know for certain when a police shooting is justified: When one of the officer’s bullets travels straight down the barrel of the suspect’s pistol, from muzzle to chamber.

I ain’t kidding! It reportedly happened in Aurora, Colorado back in January. Prosecutors recently cleared the sheriff’s deputy of wrongdoing, even though he was off duty at the time of the incident.

In one of the worst moves ever, two masked hoods tried to rob deputy Jose Marquez:

Marquez told police he was visiting his girlfriend at her apartment when he went outside to grab something from his car. As he walked back, he saw two young men with masks on their face. One of the men told him to ‘give it up,’ Marquez said, and pulled out a pistol.

Marquez said the two men fired first and he returned fire.

Marquez was wounded in the shoulder and in the abdomen, and his injuries have prevented him from resuming his duties to date.

But here’s the best part: One of Marquez’s bullets traveled straight down the barrel of one of the bad guys’ pistols! The bullet flew right on through the barrel, clobbering a round in that gun and jamming the firearm, rendering it useless.

What may be even more surprising is that the officer’s gun is reportedly 45 caliber–and the bad guy’s gun was a 40.

Police called the shot ‘one in a billion.’

It couldn’t be clearer that Marquez needed to shoot. Not only was he hit twice, but the only way his bullet could have done what it did would be if the grommet’s gun was pointed right at his.

Anyhow, good shootin’, deputy Marquez.

I also want to discuss the photo. I first saw this picture posted on Facebook, where people who apparently don’t understand guns or photographs were nay-saying it.

The diagonal arrow points out the lead from the good guy’s bullet. It seems clear to me that it has splattered, which is what lead bullets like to do when they hit something harder than lead. And the copper jacket of the bullet which it hit is certainly harder.

The vertical arrow points to a copper-jacketed bullet which has been shoved rearward into the cartridge case of a round in the perp’s gun, which is the natural result of being hit head-on by most of a 45-caliber bullet.

Folks, this definitely looks legit.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.