FAQ

Extremely so, this incident was submitted to rigorous research and formed the basis for reforms in law enforcement training methods which continue to this day. The FBI co-operated in the making of this series and it is generally agreed to be an accurate representation of what happened. The only scenes which were invented were those between Platt and Matix which would be impossible to know.

Manuzzi loses his handgun when he crashes his car after running the suspects off the road. He is then shot and wounded by Matix and forced to flee his car without being able to recover his weapon (the same thing happens to Agent Hanlon but he is carrying a back-up gun). Orantio does actually fire 12 rounds despite being wounded by Platt but we only actually see him fire one in the film.

A combination of bad luck and police procedures simply being unprepared for such well armed and trained criminals (Mattox was a former Marine and Platt an ex-Army Ranger). Both Hanlon and Manuzzi lost their handguns in the crash with Hanlon having to rely on his back-up pistol but the now unarmed and wounded Manuzzi effectively out of the fight. In the same manner Agent Grogan who had a reputation as being an excellent shot lost his glasses, practically blinding him. Whilst all the FBI agents had shotguns in their cars only Agent Morales was able to access his, the rest forced to rely on their handguns which were far outclassed in terms of firepower by the suspect's assault rifle and pump action shotgun. Agent Hanlon was hit reloading his revolver, McNeill unable to reload his due to a hand wound and Jerry Dove ran out of ammunition for his pistol and was not carrying a back-up gun. Both suspects proved remarkably resilient, Mattox surviving 6 hits and Platt struck by no fewer than 12 rounds.

Greater use of body armour, only Agent McNeill was wearing a bullet proof vest during the shootout. Greater use of SWAT teams and increased firepower with handguns relegated to a secondary weapon. Law enforcement agencies started to move away from revolvers towards high capacity self-loading pistols firing more powerful rounds.