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Report: Stockton Police Fired 'Excessively,' With 'Very Little Control' In Hostage Standoff

STOCKTON (CBS13) — An independent report says Stockton Police officers fired their weapons "excessively" and with "very little control" in a 2014 bank robbery shootout.

The report says some officers may have pulled the trigger without a clear target, and simply fired because they saw fellow officers firing.

Former Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel was one of the investigators determining how police handled the bank robbery, police chase and shootout. Officers fired 600 bullets into the suspects' car, killing hostage Misty Holt-Singh, who investigators say was being used as a human shield by one of the surviving suspects.

Braziel's report calls the number of bullets excessive, due in part to sympathetic firing.

"What sympathetic fire is, is when an officer fires their weapon, merely because others are firing," he said.

The report reads, "There were no dedicated shooters. There was very little control. Just police officers trying to stop a threat."

"Officers had trained," Braziel said. "They didn't have a lot of it but in this situation, and we don't know why, it happened, and where officers lost control, forgot about their training, and just started shooting to shoot."

The study didn't determine how many of the 33 officers fired their weapons unnecessarily.

An internal police and district attorney investigation are still ongoing.

Braziel says changes from the report could happen quickly.

"The chief got the report late Saturday night and he's talking Monday about were changing the policy," he said.

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