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Cause of rifle explosion injuring officers remains unclear

Date: 4/11/2011

April 11, 2011

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

EAST LONGMEADOW — East Longmeadow police are still unsure what caused a rifle to explode while being used during a training exercise, injuring two officers.

Police Chief Douglas Mellis told Reminder Publications Smith & Wesson is still examining a Military & Police (M&P) 15 semi-automatic tactical rifle — similar to the more well-known ArmaLite Model 15 (AR15) assault rifle — that exploded as officer Daniel Atwater fired it at the gun manufacturer's facility on April 1.

"We're waiting for the full report from Smith & Wesson and then we're going to have it inspected by the [Massachusetts] State Police," Mellis said.

The officers were taking part in the third day of a three-day training session with Smith & Wesson that Mellis described as "standardized training used to give the officers familiarity with the weapon."

Mellis said the rifle, which comes standard with a 30-round banana clip, according to the Smith & Wesson Web site, exploded as Atwater and fellow officer Edward Rice were processing through the training site side-by-side while an instructor followed behind them.

Mellis said the weapon exploded at a point just before the barrel of the gun with a sound like "a loud firecracker" and split in half. Atwater suffered burns to his left hand. A piece of the rifle flew off and struck Rice in the back of the left shoulder, resulting in a laceration. Mellis marveled at how small in severity the wounds were.

"It's very surprising that there were no broken bones, especially on officer Atwater's hand," Mellis said.

Both are expected to be back on duty shortly, Mellis said. Atwater is due back sometime this week. Rice is currently vacationing, but is due back soon, as well.

The M&P 15 has been in the East Longmeadow Police Department arsenal since 2008 after the town approved their purchase at the Annual Town Meeting, according to Mellis. Officers have the weapons in their patrol cars while on duty. Prior to 2008, police officers were equipped with shotguns in addition to their side arm.

"We approached the town in [2008] and said that the bad guys had these kinds of weapons and we needed them in order to protect citizens and officers," Mellis explained. "People use these weapons to kill and we wanted to give our officers those same tools so that they could protect life."

Mellis said there has not been any incident like this involving the department since the weapons were purchased and said it was lucky the accident took place in a controlled setting.

"It's very fortunate that there were only minor injuries and even more fortunate that it was during a training exercise," Mellis said. "It could have happened in a situation where someone's life was in danger and someone could have been killed."



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