# Manhunt for cop shooter turns out to be a hoax

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhunt-for-cop-shooter-turns-out-to-be-a-hoax/569349>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [January 28, 2011, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhunt-for-cop-shooter-turns-out-to-be-a-hoax/569349 "2011-01-28T23:27:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhunt-for-cop-shooter-turns-out-to-be-a-hoax/569349/21 "2011-01-30T20:39:10Z")

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> [@MandaJo](#):
>
> This happened in Alabama, up near Guntersville as I recall, about ten years ago, except the cop in question deliberately shot himself in the middle of his vest and claimed a black man shot him during a traffic shot. It was the same sort of pattern: 24 hours of news outrage at the violence, and then the story came out. On that occasion, it seemed to be some desperate cry for attention.

Wow, that’s really dicked up…kinda reminds me of the suicidal census taker.

At least the L.A. cop ain’t racist, since he described his faux assailant as a white, middle-aged guy. And the city spent several million dollars searching for this alleged dangerous criminal, holding the city in fear for more than a week (not as bad as the Beltway Sniper, but close) before Sgt. Stenroos finally fessed up.

The media hasn’t reported anything new about why he did it, but it’s been kind of a full news day with the Egyptian riots and the fact that it’s currently raining cats & dogs in L.A. (always a headline-grabber in this town…yeesh!)

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**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhunt-for-cop-shooter-turns-out-to-be-a-hoax/569349/22 "2011-01-30T23:35:06Z")

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I don’t get the impression that he did fess up- more that the LAPD figured it out. I doubt it would have taken them long to figure out that the bullet was fired from _his_ sidearm.

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**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhunt-for-cop-shooter-turns-out-to-be-a-hoax/569349/23 "2011-01-31T05:47:02Z")

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I bet off duty he was doing something a la Jackass and he let someone shoot him in the chest while wearing the vest. He didn’t realize that the vest would be ruined and the damage would be noticed. So to cover up damaging the equipment, he made up the story.

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**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhunt-for-cop-shooter-turns-out-to-be-a-hoax/569349/24 "2011-02-02T04:47:33Z")

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It turns out that the ATF guy who shot himself before was doing another gun safety demo in the same school.

Shit happens.

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