01x02 - The Magic b*llet

[bunniefuu]

- [narrator] At the Dallas p*stol & Revolver Club in , Trey Cooley,

a young spectator was watching a sh**ting competition, seated behind an airgun

range. He was struck and k*lled by a stray b*llet.

This is how ballistics, lasers and forensic animation solved the riddle of

the magic b*llet.

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-year-old Trey Cooley. Look at him and you see the all-American boy.

Trey attended Boles Junior High School in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas.

He played cello in the school orchestra, played baseball and was a Boy Scout.

- [Butch] At that age, every kid has the whole world open to 'em.

He coulda done anything he wanted to do.

- [narrator] Most of all, he enjoyed spending time with his family.

Trey and his father, Butch, were best friends.

- [Butch] We did everything together.

- [narrator] September th, . Butch Cooley woke early that Saturday morning,

then went to wake Trey. The two shared a passion for sh**ting. Butch was judging a

competition. He gave Trey a choice, to sleep in or tag along.

Trey chose to go with his father.

- [Butch] Trey started sh**t' when he was seven.

He enjoyed it. Shot his first deer when he was eight.

He wanted to be a p*stol competitor. And he was pretty good at it.

- [narrator] At the Dallas p*stol and Revolver Club, Trey volunteered to help

out by running results from judges to the official scorer. In between assignments,

he sat in the airgun building to get out of the hot Texas sun. He sat just inside

the door near two women who were working as scorers. But behind people sh**ting air

pistols, nothing more than pellet and BB g*ns. Then a bloodcurdling scream.

[screaming]

Trey Cooley slumped to the floor, blood flowing from his temple.

His baseball cap had a tiny but tell-tale hole.

Butch Cooley was outside the building, just a few yards from his son

when he heard the screaming. Although Butch Cooley spent years

as a State Trooper and was trained to handle emergencies,

no training could prepare him for what he saw next.

- [Butch] When I got there, I saw that he'd been shot. I checked his pulse.

I knew it wasn't good.

- [Toni] Butch walked in, and I asked him what're you doin' home? And I said,

well where is Trey? And then, he came in and he told me, he said, um, there's been

an accident, and, um, I was thinking, you know, well he's cut his foot, cut his

hand, or broke his arm, you know. And I said, well that's okay.

He's, he'll be okay.

- [narrator] Trey was rushed by ambulance to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas.

- [Toni] He was just laying there. Um, he was breathing or the machine was breathing

for 'im. His little hands were still warm and he just looked like he was asleep.

- [narrator] Six hours later, Trey died.

- [Toni] I just wanted to tell him that I was very, very proud of him.

I loved him dearly.

- [Butch] My only son.

My best friend. My fishin' buddy. My huntin' partner. Just a void.

- [narrator] Trey Cooley was seated in the club's designated safety area.

It was an accident that shouldn't have happened.

Detective Tom Piece and Crime Investigator David Taylor had a tough job:

to figure out where the b*llet that k*lled Trey Cooley came from

and to determine if the sh**ting was accidental or intentional.

Butch Cooley spent two decades as a State Trooper.

Was it possible the sh**ting had something to do with an enemy he possibly made

during his tenure? Or had the b*llet come from outside,

from one of the outdoor sh**ting ranges?

Or possibly the nearby railroad tracks, where kids had a history

of taking sh*ts at the airgun building?

- [Taylor] Uh, the biggest problem with this range, or this scene,

was the size of it. It wasn't contained inside a house, inside an apartment.

It was outside, and it covered several hundred feet.

- [narrator] The b*llet removed from Trey's skull would provide some answers,

and raise new questions. The b*llet was small, about half an inch long, but lethal.

Larry Fletcher is the firearms expert who conducted the ballistics examination.

- [Larry] The b*llet was not that damaged.

Uh, the b*llet was, uh, in rather remarkable condition.

- [narrator] This is a . caliber b*llet after striking a cement wall.

It is badly mangled, especially when compared to the b*llet

that k*lled Trey Cooley. That lack of damage could be telling

except for one thing: this was not a typical . caliber b*llet.

- [Larry] This particular b*llet is a hand-loaded or hand made b*llet.

It's not a commercial made b*llet in which they can add other materials to the lead,

and make it much harder. Uh, it can withstand a lot of damage upon impact.

- [narrator]Who makes and uses these types of b*ll*ts? Butch Cooley knew.

- Competitive sh**t like to, to load their own amm*nit*on.

Uh, primary reason being, uh, cost savings.

- Most of the competitive sh**t on the outside ranges that day were using

hand made b*ll*ts. So there was little doubt that the b*llet came

from somewhere here, rather than from kids on the railroad tracks.

Police collected the weapons and amm*nit*on samples

from the sh**t in the competition.

When Larry Fletcher examined the b*ll*ts used that day on the outside ranges,

he noticed something else.

- The, uh, powder charge, uh, which, uh, increased the velocity of this particular

type of b*llet.

- Basically, the sh**t use b*ll*ts with more g*n powder.

More g*n powder means these b*ll*ts travel farther and faster

than a regular . caliber b*llet.

- Fletcher's next task was to match the b*llet that k*lled Trey

to one of about a dozen g*ns.

Each of the g*ns from the sh**ting competition were test-fired

and compared to the b*llet taken from Trey Cooley's skull.

Fletcher had trouble getting an exact match because the extra g*n powder

created extremely high temperatures during the firing of the g*n,

actually melting some of the distinguishing marks.

But Fletcher noticed a red wax on the b*llet that k*lled Trey.

All sh**t use a lubricating wax, but only one of the g*ns

used a red wax. Larry Fletcher found the g*n that fired the fatal shot.

- At that point, I was pretty much convinced.

- A p*stol competitor named Dan Smith was using that g*n on the day of the

competition. And he was firing on this outdoor range, just behind the airgun

building. But Smith told police, he couldn't have fired the fatal shot.

- [male voice] He felt that all his sh*ts had made the target,

there were no errant rounds.

- But something just didn't add up to Butch Cooley. He spent his entire life

around g*ns, and won awards for marksmanship and g*n safety.

He knew sh**ting ranges are supposed to be safe. Accidents aren't supposed to happen.

It just didn't make sense.

Police were satisfied that Trey Cooley's death was an accident.

The ballistics report said the fatal b*llet came from a

g*n fired from an outdoor range during the competition.

But how? The owner of the g*n said he didn't miss a shot.

And the range was designed to contain any errant b*llet.

First, there's a barrier between the airgun building and the firing range.

It's called a berm. It's a small mountain of dirt, about feet high.

The berm sits right behind the targets, in the event a sh**t misses,

either to the left or right.

Directly above the targets are a series of wooden planks

fastened end-to-end and side-by-side.

These are called baffles and they're designed to catch b*ll*ts fired

a little high of the target before they leave the range.

Then there are two additional sets of baffles,

one just a few yards in front of the firing line and another called an eybrow,

directly over the firing line.

Ken Buster is a safety management consultant, with years of experience

as a sh**t and with a special expertise in firing ranges.

- [Ken] Between the eyebrow, the baffles and the height of the berm,

the vast majority of any stray b*llet would be stopped.

- Safety is, should be the number one priority in everybody's mind

any time that you, that you participate in marksmanship as a sport.

Somethin' was wrong there.

- Butch Cooley began a personal crusade to learn the truth. He needed to know how a

b*llet could bypass the range's safety features and k*ll his only son.

Butch hired attorney Mike Schmidt to find out where, or if,

the safety system had failed.

Schmidt put together an investigative team. Steve Irwin was the first member.

As an accident reconstructionist, his job was to create an exact computerized

three-dimensional scale model of the airgun building and the firing ranges.

Using laser technology, precision measuring devices and sophisticated

computer programs, Irwin would also uncover the path of the b*llet.

- You wind up starting at, nfortunately, the, the young boy gettin'

shot, and then workin' your way backwards.

- Police had already identified some important clues. The outside wall of the

airgun building was riddled with b*llet holes from all angles. Irwin needed to

know exactly which one was the culprit. Police also found b*llet holes inside the

building, in a sheet rock strip to protect a lighting fixture, and in a wall

that separated the indoor range from a storage shed. There was also a fresh gouge

in an ordinary ceiling tile. Irwin's laser survey equipment traced the b*llet's path

from where Trey was sitting through all those points. From Trey, through the

sheetrock strip, off the ceiling tile and through the back wall. It seemed

unlikely but it matched the evidence.

- It was roughly a straight line. But I couldn't see from the interior wall to the

exterior wall and it, it wasn't until we got it back to the office and got it

mapped that, that it formed this remarkably straight line.

- A straight line that led directly to one of the b*llet holes in the aluminum

siding. Then, down to the sh**ting range behind the airgun building. It led to the

range where Dan Smith was sh**ting. But, oddly enough, not to the firing line.

The laser pinpointed a path that landed yards in front of the firing line.

When Ken Buster was brought into the investigation, he immediately inspected

the firing range, to see if there was any way a b*llet could get past all of the

range's safety features. Buster delivered a scathing report.

- At the time, and now, I still think that was the worst range that I have ever seen.

- He found dozens of potentially deadly safety flaws.

- The berm separating the back range from the front range was not the standard

height, which is supposed to be feet.

- The berm behind the airgun building was only feet high. The baffles were far

below standard. The wooden planks should have had a steel or concrete backing.

And look closely at the planks themselves. They had separated, leaving big gaps.

A b*llet could easily pass through.

- [Ken Buster] In this case, the baffle might well have not have been there

and served no purpose at all.

- And Buster was appalled by the b*llet holes in the back of the building.

- Several of these holes had been plugged. That means, to me, as a safety person,

as a range person, as a long-time sh**t, that they knew that b*ll*ts were getting

out of that range and they accepted that fact and continued to sh**t.

- The laser analysis projected the b*llet path to the middle of the outdoor range,

well in front of the firing line. How could this be?

It was due to a monumental blunder.

During the competition, sh**t were required to fire from several distances.

First, from the firing line at yards.

Then they moved forward to yards, and finally, to yards.

The laser study showed that the fatal b*llet was fired from the yard line.

The architectural model shows the problem clearly. By firing from the yard line,

sh**t had to move in front of the eyebrow

and the first set of protective baffles.

And Irwin's computer also showed another frightening reality.

From the yard line, you could see the back of the airgun building.

- If you can see it, you can sh**t it. And any projectile that might leave

the range in that area was gonna hit that building.

- The laser showed the b*llet flew under the last baffle, over the berm, and into

the building. It involved a bizarre trajectory. It meant that the sh**t

missed the target high and to the left by more than five feet. A terrible miss.

How could a trained marksman miss a target by that much, from only yards away?

Part of that answer was found in the g*n itself.

Close examination revealed it had been modified.

- It's like taking a standard car and making a hot rod.

- Some competitive sh**t file down parts of the g*n to make it easier to pull

the trigger quickly.

- They've, uh, got it set to where it-, they go off so easily that they fire two

rounds instead a one, it feeds so fast.

- The result is called doubling, which sometimes occurs as the g*n recoils.

A recoil is the backward force created by the expl*si*n, pushing the g*n up in the

air. Each type of g*n recoils differently.

- A . creates a recoil up and to the left.

- Kirk Parks had the task of producing the computerized proof, a fact-based animation

of what happened. His firm specializes in forensic animation. Parks' video taped

hundreds of . caliber p*stol sh*ts, using the same type p*stol and amm*nit*on.

He used this footage to create an exact computerized reproduction of the recoil

for the animation.

- Uh, we shot the video from the top of the w*apon and we shot it from

the side, and we shot it from the front.

- Next, Parks created wire frame models of a competitive sh**t in action and

then, animated Irwin's laser studies of the firing range and the b*llet path, to

complete the picture.

- It produced the exact results necessary to generate the b*llet path that was

surveyed. Up, and to the left.

- I can't say for sure that the g*n doubled but all the evidence, uh,

seems to indicate that it did, and it fired during the uncontrollable recoil.

- This forensic animation was able to show what happened to Trey Cooley

on the morning of September th, but the animation showed that the b*llet took

a remarkable journey, one which almost defied belief.

When Trey Cooley entered the Dallas p*stol & Revolver Club on September th, ,

the range was a tragedy just waiting to strike. Outside on the firing range behind

the airgun building, Dan Smith, one of the last competitors of the day, steps up

to the yard line. This moves him in front of two sets of safety baffles.

Using a modified g*n, Smith takes aim and squeezes the trigger.

In a fraction of a second, another shot is fired during the recoil phase of the

original shot. It happened so quickly, the sh**t doesn't know it left the g*n.

The b*llet misses the target, high and to the left. Traveling upwards, it passes

underneath the last set of protective baffles, and just three inches over the

berm. It's speeding at , feet per second. The b*llet blasts through the

aluminum siding, goes through a storage room, misses a broom and some pipes by

less than an inch and then breaks through a second wall, entering the airgun

range. Then, the b*llet does something unbelievable. It strikes an ordinary

ceiling tile and, for some unknown reason, it doesn't blast straight through into the

roof. Instead, it skids along the tile for seven inches before mysteriously

changing direction, making a -degree turn, and begins a downward path. It slows

to about feet per second, penetrates a plaster wall,

and enters Trey Cooley's head.

The Cooley family filed an negligence suit against the g*n club

and individuals involved with the competition.

The judge who presided over the civil case was impressed with the visual

and computerized evidence.

- I've been on the bench six and a half years, and I would say

that's in the, the top, uh, two, or three or four, uh, in terms of just the, the

professionalism, and the effectiveness of, of the, uh, demonstrative evidence brought

into court.

- The Cooley's attorney says the forensic animation and model explained this tragedy

in a way nothing else could.

- I could not have possibly gotten the result that I got on behalf

of the Cooley family without 'em.

- The animation also helped Butch Cooley understand what had happened to his son.

But there is still little peace for Trey's dad.

- What's peace?

Ya just take it a day at a time.

- Change just one thing and Trey Cooley might be alive today. The range...

- It wouldn't have happened, because I would not have allowed that competition

to occur on that particular range.

- The g*n...

- They may not even be aware that it's double firing or slam firing on 'em.

They may think it's properly functioning.

- The b*llet...

- If it had been a softer b*llet, it may not have ricocheted as much.

Would not have had the velocity.

- Or if the sh**t had been standing at the proper firing line, the shot would've

hit the baffle or flown over the building. But why did this fatal b*llet

change direction as it hit the soft ceiling tile, instead of blasting straight

through, as it did with the hard walls?

- b*ll*ts can do incredible things. Things they're not expected to do.

- These thoughts haunt Butch Cooley. No explanation can ease the pain

felt by a father who woke his son early one September morning.

- I shoulda let 'im sleep.