I live near hollyburne and I heard gunshots going off and police sirens..hopefully no one was hurt.

Gee, I wonder if they responded with enough officers?

anonymous -

Now that you've had a few hours to read the story, think about it, get lots of new facts that the officers didn't have, and situated yourself at your laptop with your hot cup of coffee, how many officers would you send out?

I am sure that there will be outrage from anonymous posters that the police engaged in brutality by shooting someone.

If only all the people involved had MORE guns this all could have been averted...damn liberals.

Right, and if you banned guns these 6 guys would follow the law, and not get firearms... And besides, we all know criminals can't acquire illegal contraband!!

People who come out with off the wall comments in cases like this, even if meant to be "clever", scare the crap out of me. Look at those weapons, people! Two of the three are banned 9mm assault weapons. No one can buy those legally, and I doubt they were stolen in home robberies. To me their presence on the streets of Menlo Park is an indication that there are some major illegal arms sales going on in your town (so much for peace village atomosphere). The fact that the scum that is using such weapons has them, from my perspective, says law enforcement needs to send even more resources when trouble erupts, and should be prepared to "strap them low and draw them smokin". And, jut in case I've left any doubt as to where my beliefs lie with regard to gun ownership, its incidents like this that convince me that we should have a universal federal gun law that allows any low abiding, adequately trained citizen to carry a concealed weapon (a conventional one of course).

My family was a victim of a shooting, two officers were sent and two investigators, someone tried to rob or home and my children were in the living room watching t.v. and the robber point blank shot at them again two officers and two investigators, and for this incident they had the whole menlo park police, redwood city san mateo county, highway patrols, WOW!! and witnessess saw the house where the shooter went into and still didn't want to go after him. WOW!!

My housekeeper's poor Hispanic husband who lives in EPA was robbed at gunpoint in broad daylight at their home of his freshly cashed check of $1,400, by two African American thugs about a year ago and he gave clear descriptions of the robbers, their car, etc. and to date, ZERO has been done. Neither him nor any other witnesses have been brought into EPA Police to see mug shots or further pursue the case. ZIP has been done. The gun these thugs had was also illegal. WOW!

Ranch Gal - what has the victim done to get the cops to do more on his case? The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Some well-placed phone calls/emails could make a difference.

Given that the last name of one of these idjits is Bradford, I suspect he's related to the 19 year old victim in the shooting death the other day in EPA.

Frankly, I'm glad that the only one hurt here was one of the bad guys.

WhoRuPeople is correct that some of these weapons are not legal. However it should be pointed out only one of the weapons is illegal to own in the US. Several others are only illegal in CA if they weren't manufactured and owned prior to 1989. Short of the SKS (3rd picture) which is illegal in all states. the other guns can be owned and registered in the 49 states of the "republic". California's very restrictive gun laws make the ownership of many of these guns difficult.

It was also pointed out that since there is a chance that one/some of the assailants might be felons, the mere possesion of any of these weapons is illegal. Anything more powerful than a paint-ball gun will get these guys jail time. So if that is true carrying an Illegal Machine Gun is no less a jail term than a shotgun. So they would logically (if you believe they think logically) carry the most lethal weapon they could get there hands on.

The weapons in the pictures are:

1. Standard 1911 probably a colt? OK in all 50 States.
2. Olympic Arms OA 93 in .223 - ok to own in 49 states if originally manufactured as a pistol, otherwise classified as a SBR with same penalties as unregistered Machine Gun; illegal in CA anyway you slice it.
3. Looks like an SKS converted to 30rd mag with cut down stock and barrel. Needs to be registered as a MG to be legal, otherwise illegal anywhere in USA
4. FN 5.7 - OK everywhere
5. AR-180 - an original costa Mesa in very good condition; legal in 49 states; illegal in CA unless registered in 1989.

So the SKS is really the ONLY illegal firearm in the bunch.

Roy Thiele-Sardina

What a thought, you have the luxury to sit behind your desk or on a couch with your laptop to write these amazingly stupid comments.

I'm sure the initial responding officers had sa oyfriend/girlfriend, wife, children maybe..... what were you doing at 115 Sunday morning= sleeping????

Get real people, these officers probably prevented a mass murder becuase of their courage and duty to act... Would you rather wait for an officer to be shot and possibly killed before they call in additional officer to take on 6 armed suspects??? How often do police catch that many people in one incident that were armed....

My thanks to all police officers espically those who work the night shift and give up time with their families to protect my family and I.....

Well done folks!!!!

Anon, none of us were there, so we don't know what was prevented. I am not interpreting posts to be negative toward the cops. It makes perfect sense to me that they called in SWAT & CHP, espec given how close to 101 this happened.

It's on the cops that they take the risks that they do in choosing their profession. I'm always happy to hear when they're triumphant in a dangerous situation where criminals have firepower. These morons can look forward to their deservedly lousy Christmas.

Anon:

some of the comments were made in reference to Anonymous, a poster on another thread who thinks teh police are always over reacting and sending too many officers. He(she?) loves to second guess the police.

@Roy

You are wrong in your assement of the leagalities of those firearms. Read the assault weapon ban again I think you missed some important parts.

Yes when there are six armed people with high caliber weapons that decide to take the police on well yes its going to get real big. These criminals were a hit squad. In Menlo Park! This is in our City. Thank you EPA

This message is to The Voice. And I will try my best not to violate terms of use-though I would really like to in this instance. To your comment, "In Menlo Park! This is our city. Thank you EPA". I can't tell you how bigoted I find your comment to be, and I am sure it projects your true beliefs and the kind of person you are (thats the attempt not to violate terms of use). Crimes are being committed, people are being hurt, even killed, in cities across the area; including Menlo Park. Guns are being carried and probably sold, along with drugs in Menlo Park. The people buying and selling are in Menlo Park. Menlo Park, believe it or not The Voice, is not Stepford; it does have its own bad elements, and they transend ethnicity, gender and neighborhood. dRD4

The Voice.

What part did I miss? Most are hard to own in CA, and some are against the law in all 50 states?

You are way out of line with your closing comment.....get a grip.

Roy

Hey, Voice, get a clue - they weren't all EPA residents - & it's not like Menlo doesn't have its share of thugs & idiot criminals. What do you think they were doing there in Menlo - having tea? Usually when thugs arrive in a neighborhood, it's because they were invited or to get revenge on another thug or similar mayhem.

Not all people who live in EPA are thugs !

SKS=Illegal
AR assault pistol=Illegal
AR variant=Illegal
All illegal in California
Your post was not clear.

Not bigoted at all. The facts leading to my statement are correct. I would surmise that all these crooks that were arrested are from EPA. Stop reading into my statements. Hmmm you must know sarcasm when you read it.

What I'm saying here is that the lack of law enforcement in EPA is a major problem that affects the region. I never said everone are crooks in EPA. Its time to realize that. I'm confident Menlo has its bad elements for sure. But the "LO" does not have the sheer amount of criminals that the MID, Da Villiage, Flutter, or the G have. So before people make assumptions do some research on crime trends and criminals on the penninsula.

Hmmm yea they may not have been all EPA residents. But Id bet you a a dime that they all were at some point.

The Voice - "not bigoted at all" If you really believe that, since you're already on line if you're reading this, hop over to wikipedia and look up the definition of bigotry. About 3/4 of the way through the string of the most common targets of a bigot's prejudices you'll find INTER-REGIONAL PREJUDICE. Its my opinion such prejudice is usually related to views toward one/some/or all of the following: social status, financial status, ethnicity.

WhoRUpeople, great posts!

I'm under no delusions what the range of people who live here in EPA are & what they're capable of. But given that anit-social thuggery is a global, human issue, it's also in Menlo (& always has been) & other local areas. Given that gang, prison, guns and drug running are tied together, I wouldn't be surprised if this event was part of something larger & part of that prison-to-parolee chain. Trying to tie this all back to EPA is not just insulting (which it is), and bigoted (which it also is), it's narrow in focus & misses the likely point that these men are part of something bigger.

I'm curious as to what was really going on, what their intentions were & who called the cops on them. I guess the public will never know.

They were more than likely seeking revenge and thank god someone saw these idiots and turned them in before some innocent lives were put in danger!!

A little late, but ...

I spend a lot of time in that neighborhood - I virtually live there. The Belle Haven neighborhood is not significantly different from EPA in racial make-up, ethnicity, or educational level ... however, the violent crime levels (though still too high) are significantly lower. I credit the Menlo Park police for this.

It's striking to me that the people involved in the shoot-out were from East Palo Alto. Perhaps this is hopeful thinking, but - as much as the two neighborhoods look alike - it's a place that's enough less welcoming to criminals that events like this are less common. I'm sure the ordinary people of both places really aren't that different.