Old school police gunfighter dies

Retired NYPD cop Jim Cirillo died in a traffic collision last night in Brookfield, New York. He was 76.

http://www.uticaod.com/apps/pbcs.dll.../NEWS/70713003

Cirillo was a founding member of the now defunct NYPD Stakeout Squad in the 1960s.

Members of the stakeout squad were often stationed in businesses that were frequently robbed. During Cirillo's first stakeout he initiated an armed encounter with three perps who were robbing a convenience store.

Cirillo recalled that as he came out of hiding to challenge the perps his heart was racing and his legs felt like jelly. Seconds later he had put two rounds into each perp. Cirillo recalled seeing the front sight of his pistol with such clarity and focus that he was concious of the small striations on the sight and said he remembered thinking "Who's shooting my pistol?" as he felt his S&W Model 10 recoiling in his hand.

In addition to 250 armed encounters, Cirillo participated in 17 gunfights that resulted in 11 bad guys DRT.

RIP Mr. Cirillo...You did it right.

Not a PC outlook, but imho, a return to deterrence of criminal activity by ALL criminal activity resulting in the possibility of forfeiture of life would be a good thing.

If you stick a gun in an convenience store clerk's face, or invade a home, be prepared to die for it.

I fully agree with 120 here !

An Eye for an Eye
Punishment in which the offender suffers what the victim has suffered, exact retribution.

May he rest in peace !

It was with great sadness that I read of Jim's death. I have a pretty good sized file of articles on Jim and two of his shooting techniques videos. He used to be the one of the instructors at FLETC in Georgia. He was well ahead of his time. Once officers completed basic marksmanship training he thought it was a waste of time and ammunition to keep teaching them that way because it would never happen like that in the real world. Here are some photos of recommended shooting positions for downed officers to be able to fight and win even if you are wounded. He will be missed. RIP Jim you will be missed at Roll Call.

http://www.mlefiaa.org/CIRILLO.html

Fully concur with previous posters that Jim Cirillo "did it right." I followed him vicariously during my own comptetion shooting and subsequent career but never had the opportunity of meeting/training with him. One thing that I remember from him (and which has served me well) is his comment, when asked what he focused on during a shooting, was that he could see the horizontal striations on his S&W front sight--i.e., front sight focus as a fundamental element of combat marksmanship.

RIP Jim, and thank you.

by people like this gentlemen and many of you, too.

What a bummer to go through all that he did and die in that way....RIP.

I thought this might interest a few folks. It's a short docudrama featuring the NYPD Stakeout Unit. Jim Cirillo is one of the cops featured. Interestingly, Cirillo and his experienced partner don't shoot. The nervous rookie is the only one who has a shot.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tempcmb5hZU

Great story thanks for posting, I am a big Cirillo fan.