The videos show the tests of Joe Horn's shotgun as you get another inside look into the Pasadena Police Department's meticulous investigation.
A 12 gauge shotgun is a powerful weapon.
"In close quarter combat it's one of the most powerful weapons you can have," said retired HPD officer Sandy Wall.
Almost a month after the controversial shooting last November, Pasadena police officers performed and videotaped ballistics tests. They already had more than two dozen pieces of evidence from the scene as well as Horn's videotaped walkthrough and statements. Wall says it was time to compare.
"To see if in fact he's telling the truth," Wall said.
An officer fired at the target eight times from different distances. The farther away she got, the wider the spread of the spray pattern. Compare that to the wound patterns on suspected burglars Diego Ortiz and Hernando Torres and Wall says you have a very important piece of information.
"The testing can tell us within reason what distance the victim was to the shotgun," Walls said.
From the Pasadena firing range that December morning, the officers then went to Horn's house.
Using already spent shotgun casings, they recreated the ejection of the shotgun shells. And it took two tries.
"What they then can determine basically is where the shotgun was pointed," Wall said.
Joe Horn told police the two men were near this tree in his front yard when he encountered them.
"One of them jumped and I shot him," Horn told police.
From the ballistics tests they determined they were about 15 feet apart. Torres was shot first.
While these tests, like in any investigation involving a firearm, were done to compare witness statements, officers made no conclusions on the tapes. That's what a grand jury is for and as you know, one has already decided what Joe Horn did was not a crime.
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