• Public

  • Public
  • Network
  • Groups
  • Featured
  • Popular
  • People

In May 1992, seven U.S. Marines joined two local police officers as they responded to a domestic violence call in the waning days of the Los Angeles riots. Deployed to the city alongside several thousand other federal troops after President George H. W. Bush invoked the Insurrection Act, these Marines now found themselves playing a role for which they had little training: that of civilian law enforcement officer. At the scene, as the police officers prepared to enter the home, someone inside fired a shotgun through the door. One of the officers shouted to the Marines, "Cover me" — a request, in law enforcement parlance, that they raise their weapons and be ready to fire if necessary. But the Marines, in accordance with their own training, took it as a request for suppressing fire. They riddled the home with more than 200 bullets. Miraculously, no one was killed.