Angelo West, the 41-year-old gunman who allegedly shot Boston Police Officer John Moynihan on March 27, was prohibited from gun possession.
Yet, like so many other criminally-minded individuals who ignore gun controls and/or all-out gun bans, the prohibition did not keep West from getting and transporting the .357 Magnum with which Moynihan was shot.
According to The Boston Globe, West “wrapped up on a stint on a third gun possession charge… last summer.” So when he was pulled over on Humboldt Avenue and Moynihan approached his car, he knew “the .357 magnum he was carrying was a ticket back to Cedar Junction in Walpole.”
He apparently made a choice at that point, and as Moynihan began to talk, West shot him in the face, just below his right eye. The Associated Press reports that Moynihan is now in a medically induced coma and being monitored for “bleeding in his brain.”
A bullet “remains lodged below [Moynhihan’s] right ear.”
The Boston Globe explained that this is not the first time West fired on a police officer. He shot at two other officers “14 years ago” when in a “tussle” with Boston Police Officer Billy Griffiths and State Trooper Kevin Murray.
Fortunately, the shot West fired passed directly between Griffiths and Murray without striking either of them, and they were able to subdue him. Yet West was let back out on the streets by a system that is strict on gun control, but not so strict on criminals.
So, a lack of gun control was not the issue on March 27. The issue was that a violent criminal was lose on the streets.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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