Case Scenarios

Tony Scotti

CASE STUDY-COLOMBIAN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
A prominent Colombian union leader was wounded and two other people were killed when gunmen opened fire at him during morning rush hour in the capital.

Wilson Borja, president of the Federation of State Workers, was being treated at a Bogotá hospital for his wounds, which were not believed to be life threatening. One of Borja's bodyguards was also wounded.

Only a few days ago, he told reporters he had received death threats from a right-wing paramilitary group who had accused him of being aligned with the rebels.

A woman who sold coffee on the sidewalk was killed in the shootout. She died at the scene in northwest Bogotá.

Police said three assailants brandishing automatic assault rifles opened fire on Borja -- a member of the central committee of Colombia's small Communist Party -- as he left his home in a district of Bogotá in an all-terrain vehicle.

One of Borja's bodyguards, who was shot in the face, managed to return the gunmen's fire and a woman street vendor was killed in the shootout, police spokesmen said.
Police said the car the gunmen fired from was found abandoned about six blocks from the scene of the attack, with a corpse lying alongside it. It was not immediately clear if the dead man was one of the trio of would-be assassins or a passerby killed so they could avoid being identified.

Conclusions:

• Bodyguard fired back more than likely saving the boss man.
• It also appears as though he may have actually hit the bad guy.
• Not a well planned attack, which leads one to think that the bad guys where not members of the guerilla groups.

CASE STUDY - ATTACK ON AN ARMORED CAR.

MOSCOW (AP) - Two masked gunmen opened fire on a Moscow deputy mayor as he neared City Hall during morning rush hour Tuesday, gravely wounding him, killing his driver and putting 26 bullet holes in his car.
The attackers dumped their silencer-equipped weapons in the freshly fallen snow, got in a waiting car and drove off - the hallmarks of a contract killing, Russian-style.
The attack on deputy mayor Iosif Ordzhonikidze was described as most likely the work of organized crime elements unhappy over one of his decisions.

Officials who control business regulation can become assassination targets if they cross one of the criminal organizations that infest much of the Russian economy. Other contract-killing victims have included the head of Russia's hockey federation and the top privatization official in St. Petersburg. The killings are rarely solved.

"Most likely, he made a decision, or was about to make one, that did not fit into the plans of one of the criminal structures," said a somber Mayor Yuri Luzhkov.

The attack took place on a narrow side street just off Tverskaya Ulitsa, Moscow's main avenue leading to the Kremlin.

The attackers, armed with automatic rifles, stood on both sides of the street waiting for Ordzhonikidze's car as he was driven from his home outside the city, a police spokesman said.

Russian media reported that Ordzhonikidze was riding in an armored black Nissan and that his assailants used armor-piercing bullets that hit the car 26 times. Ordzhonikidze was shot in the abdomen and leg and underwent several hours of surgery, police said.

Conclusions

1. In Moscow assassination is used as a negotiating tool
2. The vehicle was attacked on a narrow street, good planning by the bad guys.
3. They knew the car was armored, so they used armor piercing rounds.
4. This is a freighting thought, but clients may be faced with upgrading armored cars, to defeat these types of rounds. Level B4 will not do it, it will need level B6 and B7.

CASE STUDY - ATTACK ON BRITISH DIPLOMAT

ATHENS, Dec 13 (Reuters) - November 17, the Greek urban guerrilla group that gunned down British diplomat Stephen Saunders on an Athens street six months ago, said on Wednesday he was their most important target in 25 years. In a statement published by the daily Eleftherotypia newspaper, the group repeated its claims that Saunders, the defense attaché at the British embassy in Athens, was deeply involved in the Kosovo war. "Brigadier Saunders was the No. 1 at the embassy. He was the most important target we have hit in our 25 years of action," it said. November 17 shot Saunders on his way to work on June 8. He was their 23rd victim since the killing of CIA station chief Richard Welch in 1975. No one from the group has ever been caught. Britain has denied that Saunders was directly involved in the Kosovo war, a conflict that was deeply unpopular in Greece. Scotland Yard has been working with Greek counterparts to track down Saunders's killers and Greece has pledged to step up the fight against terrorism, particularly ahead of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. In its statement, November 17 said that it had used two guns to kill Saunders and questioned why Greek police had not made this public. It said that as well as a .45 caliber pistol that is its trademark weapon it had used a G-3 semiautomatic. "Hiding that fact runs counter to their (the Greek police's) desperate attempts to gather any information from eye witnesses," it said. The group said it used the G-3 in case the car Saunders was driving was armored, which it said it was not. It criticized the British government for not providing such an "important military official" with an armored vehicle.

More information on the attack and Nov. 17th can be found at:

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20001213_401.html

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/greeceterror000908.html

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/greece000811.html

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/diplomat000608.html

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/terrorism000605.html

Conclusions:
1. Please review the articles enclosed (via web sites above), Nov. 17th also planned for the possibility of an armored car.
2. They drove up on a motorcycle with a high-powered rifle visible and no one noticed?
3. Tell clients, where motorcycle attacks are a possibility that they need to spend some time looking in the rear and side view mirrors. There is an article in the front of the sight that describes how to do that properly.