Closed Cases - FSF Archives - S-7BF Call 0-1 Officer Down
Closed Case FSF Archives Injury and Subsequent Loss of Officer Jacob Sinova - D-644 Call-In 0-1 July 2nd, 2008 First-Person Account Officer Steven Marks of Sohten - S-7BF Officer Jacob Sinova of Sohten - D-644 Reporting Base - Sohten 1
It was the first event that made me wish I had not joined the force. I later realized this same thing would've happen to someone else if it hadn't been me. That simple fact was the only consolation I had to get over it. Let me start from the beginning.
I was just a young squirrel, getting very close to reaching the 600 rank. I had been recently assigned to be partners with a tall, handsome collie who'd been in the force a little longer than me. We had been paired up for about two months and it had been pretty calm the entire time. That is, until July came about.
There had been a lot of abductions recently of both children and adults. I had wondered when we'd have to do something about it ourselves. Neither of us were investigators, so when it happened we were still not expecting it.
We were driving around in the standard issue patrol vehicle, with the windows down as it was hot out but not hot enough that we needed the AC. As we turned a corner we saw a long, white van that met the description of those involved with the abductions from late last month. "We have a van fitting the description of the abduction vehicles," Officer Sinova said over the radio. "Possible 14-10, 10-10."
We followed the van for a bit but it turned out to be delivering cakes to a nearby store. After a few minutes we got a call: "possible 10-10," and we began driving towards the unit that called it in. "We lost the van," they said soon after. Just then we heard a scream and looked to the side from which it came. There was a small kid being carried into a large white van. We quickly drove to the van and parked in front of it.
We quickly got out of the car, standing behind the doors with our rifles, his F27V3 and my F28V03. "FSF!" I yelled at the van, unsure if anyone inside could actually hear me. "Get out of the van with your paws up!" We stood there for a second, wondering if they would listen. I heard Officer Sinova say "14-1, possible 10-16," into the radio. There were sounds coming from inside the van and I couldn't tell what they might be, it sounded like people moving around. It was nothing more than confusing until I heard the familiar "clack-clack" of a weapon loading.
"10-16!" he yelled into the radio as the van door opened, revealing a man holding a large gun resembling a Browning M2 machinegun, on a monopod attached to the floor of the van. I could see a small kid lying in the corner, tied up with tape over his mouth. I aimed at the man holding the gun, trying to be careful and not shoot the kid. I heard the large gun firing and putting holes through our car as I fired my rifle at the man.
The whole firefight lasted maybe three seconds. The dead man fell out of the van as it drove away. Regular protocol would've called for shooting at the van to try and stop it, but our rifles would've killed the kid if not firing precisely. I wondered why Officer Sinova hadn't fired. I thought he might've thought I could take care of it myself, but that thought quickly went away. "0-1! 0-1!" I called over the radio as two patrol cars sped past us, following the van.
I quickly picked out the shards of glass from my fallen partner's wounds. I heard the siren of the medical officer's vehicle in the background as I put pressure on the two bullet wounds from the .50 caliber machinegun. The medical officers got out of the medical van and started treating Officer Sinova. I was called to take the car up to the van: they had cornered it and needed a marksman to take out the remaining suspect.
As I got in the car and drove off, I saw one of the medical officers on top of Officer Sinova performing CPR. I drove off hoping he'd be okay. Our armor was not meant to take such a high caliber round, not until the new armor was issued in about a year or two. I got near the scene, a wide open park with officer patrol cars all over the place. The kidnapper was holding the kid up with a pistol to his head. He was yelling something but I couldn't hear him.
"Officer Marks?" a short fennec fox asked me. "We need you to take out the suspect without hitting the kid. Can you do it?" I hesitated a little, my partner still clearly on my mind, "sure... yeah, I can do it." "Good," he replied. "Pick a spot, let us know how it goes."
I grabbed my rifle from the car and ran to a nearby building, quickly getting to the roof of the three story apartment building. I reached behind the magazines on my side, getting out the marksman's barrel for my rifle. As I locked it into place I took a deep breath, thinking, "this is for you Jacob, hope you make it through this." I leaned over the side of the roof and looked down at the suspect, he clearly hadn't stopped screaming at the officers who refused to do anything that he said.
"Voice on," I said, telling the radio to transmit constantly. "Com. One mile radius, all units. Sniper 1 in position, requesting fire code." "Sniper 1," a voice replied. "Fire code turtle, standby." "Standing by," I replied, looking down the scope of my rifle and keeping aim on the suspect.
"This isn't going anywhere," the same voice said over the radio. "Fire code cat." "10-4," I replied. Fire code cat meant I was to eliminate all targets using precision fire only. I looked down the scope and aimed perfectly at the suspect's head as he aimed the gun back and forth between the kid and the officers. Right as he moved the gun away from the kid's head I fired a single shot. It entered his forehead and presumably exited around the back of his neck. He went down instantly and somewhere around forty officers swarmed in to get the kid, secure the suspect and clear the van.
"Confirmed kill," the fennec said over the radio. "10-4, returning to ground," I said as I got up, walking slowly down the stairs while replacing the short barrel on my rifle. "Com. Connect me to Officer Sinova or the 0-1 responders." "Officer Gerams here," a low voice replied after a few seconds. "Officer Marks, report to Sohten 1."
After a short drive back to the base my worst fears were realized. "Officer Marks?" a German Shepherd looked over at me. I could recognize his voice as, "Officer Gerams. I responded to your 0-1 call on Officer Sinova. I'm afraid I had to declare him dead on scene. I'm sorry." I had never lost a partner before, it was quite possibly the worst feeling I'd ever felt. "You've got the rest of the month off, get some rest, we'll see you later."
I went home and tried to get over it. I got a call from the FSF Loss Specialist and started counseling with her. I made some great progress because of her, she really helped me a lot. The day I returned to work, August third, I was asked to join the memorial service for him. About a week later we all attended the service. The highest ranking officer at the time, a strikingly handsome tiger, T-00F, led the service, speaking of how he gave his life to save a kid and risked it countless times before that day.
Every defense service that served the country slowly got bigger and bigger. I was number one of the "Hundred Guns of Silence." It was like a 21-gun salute, except there were one hundred officers, each of which fired ten rounds from restored F1V6 rifles. All officers were wearing full gear, everything but the helmets, with all decorations. I was only wearing one medal beyond the rank commendations. I had gotten that medal for helping stop the two abductors that had successfully taken over twenty people captive.
As a decorated officer I was allowed to get additional training in a second specialty in addition to being a sniper. I decided that, to honor Officer Sinova, I'd become an investigator, to try and stop people like them before losing an officer.
Written April 3rd, 2011 by Pedro "Reynard" Loustaunau.
2011 © Pedro "Reynard" Loustaunau - pedrolerenard, all rights reserved, do not use without permission