offi cer down: Off-Duty Ambush: The Steve Franks Incident
advancing nor retreating, and fi red back with the Colt.
After reaching cover at the corner of the house, Franks heard his assailant’s gun go si- lent. He glanced around the corner. Barnes was no longer in sight. Concerned that the vengeful gunman might circle around the back of the house to attack them from the rear, Franks was anxious to get Mary mov- ing. He yelled at her again but it was obvi- ous she didn’t hear him. He reached down, grabbed her by the shoulders, and forcibly turned her face toward him. As he looked straight into her eyes, she fi nally recognized him. T e change was instantaneous—he now had her full attention. “We gotta get outa here!” he barked in a fi rm voice. T en, fearing that he was getting low on ammo, he withdrew the magazine from his pistol to check it. He couldn’t see clearly through its indicator holes, but it ap- peared that it still held fi ve or six rounds. He slammed the magazine back into place, helped Mary to her feet, and commanded, “Let’s go!”
By now the rain had stopped as suddenly as it had begun, the sun was shining, and Mary was ready to go. T en, as they started toward their car, Franks realized his keys were missing. It was a distressing setback, but Franks persisted. After a brief search, he spotted the keys glistening in the rain- soaked grass, snatched them up, and ran to the car with his wife. As they jumped into the car and started to speed away, Franks noticed a man’s crumpled form lying on the lawn near the corner of the house where Barnes had been standing. He kept going.
THE AFTERMATH
As soon as they were out of range of their home, the Franks stopped at a neighbor’s house and called 9-1-1 (neither he nor Mary had a cell phone). Responding depu- ties from the sheriff ’s department had no trouble fi nding Barnes. He was still where Franks had last seen him, dead from a self- infl icted gunshot wound to the head and clutching the powerful Blackhawk in his hand. His only other injury was a minor
45 The Police Marksman Mar-Apr 2015
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bullet wound in the right leg. A stock of several boxes of ammunition was stacked along the side of the house near where he lay, and more ammo, along with a cache of additional guns, was found in his pickup truck. T e truck had been hidden in a fi re break in the woods, buried up to its axles in mud, about 800 yards from the house. Captain Franks left the hospital police department not long after the shooting and is now working for the metropolitan police department. He and Mary are still living in the same house where Barnes had so care- fully laid his trap.
DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS Capt. Franks suddenly found himself
caught in a nightmarish scene in which not only his own life but the life of his wife as well was threatened by a determined, heav- ily armed gunman. His cool head, quick and aggressive return fi re, dogged determi- nation to save his wife, and the fact that he was still in uniform with full duty gear saved both their lives, and also provide us with a good example of what it takes to win. Moreover, his ordeal also off ers us a wealth of lessons about how to deal with armed violence when off duty in the company of loved ones, and how to prepare for and overcome an ambush. T e following analysis will address these points in greater detail, as well as a number of other crucial lessons from this incident—
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