LAPD Pistol Team Wins World Championship

LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT
MEDIA RELATIONS SECTION
PRESS CONFERENCE
LAPD PISTOL TEAM WINS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

WHEN
October 13, 1998, 1:30 p.m.

WHERE
Los Angeles Police Academy
1880 North Academy Drive, Courtyard
Los Angeles, CA 90012

WHY
Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks and Captain Richard Wemmer, Commanding Officer, Training Division will be presented with the World Championship Plaques by team representative Ofcr. Rick Bennett.

Ten officers from the Los Angeles Police Department traveled to Jackson, Mississippi in September 1998. They competed against over five hundred of the best police pistol shooters in the world, in both individual and team championships.

The four-person team of Rick Bennett, Lou Salseda, Bob Barnes and Don Tsunawaki fired their way into becoming the 1998 National and World Police Pistol Champions. Their World Champion score totaled 2378 points out of a possible 2400.

As far as individual titles go, John Pride fired a score of 1497 out of 1500 points to become the 1998 National Champion. Rick Bennett placed second with the score of 1494 points. Bob Barnes won the Stock Auto Pistol with his score of 479 out of 480 points. John Pride placed first in both the Open Semi-Auto Pistol Match and the Distinguished Revolver Match.

The ten participating officers were:
Sgt. Lou Salseda, Training Division OIC, Firearm Training Unit (FTU)
Ofcr. Rick Bennett, Training Division FTU
Ofcr. Bob Barnes, Training Division FTU
Det. Don Tsunawaki, Southeast Division
Det. John Pride, LAPD Retired
Ofcr. Steve Estrada, Southeast Division
Ofcr. Brian Owen, Hollywood Division
Ofcr. Mike Mullins, Training Division FTU
Ofcr. Dale Hickerson, Hollywood Division
Ofcr. Bob Palacious, Central Division
Ofcr. Lisa Wernli, Detective Support Division

For further information contact: Media Relations Section, Ofcr. Shelley Savage at 213-485-3586.

For Release 11:15 am PST
October 14, 1998