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CHAPTER 6

The Flanking Movement

As the drama played out at the rear of Unit 78-8, Twining had been shooting at Officer Pence (and possibly Officer Alleyn) from a location near the front left of the Pontiac, using it for cover. It is probable that Twining fired two rounds from his .45-caliber 1911A1 pistol at Officer Pence from this position, while Officer Pence returned fire with his .357 Magnum revolver from behind the door of the patrol car. (Refer again to Figs. 20, 21 and 22.)

At some point, Twining left his position at the Pontiac and began a wide flanking movement to Officer Pence’s left, in order to get a better angle of fire on the officer. One witness reported that he yelled out a warning from across the parking lot that Twining was on the move, but his message was undoubtedly drowned out by the gunfire and the phenomena of auditory exclusion that was certainly affecting the officers. (Refer again to Fig. 23.)

Officer Pence had fired all six rounds from his revolver and it was now empty. Instead of attempting to reload the revolver in the position from where he was taking fire, he elected to move to the left rear corner of the patrol car and complete his reload there, where the car could offer greater protection. (Refer again to Fig. 24.) On his way to the rear of the car, he opened the cylinder of his Colt Python and dumped the six spent .357 Magnum cases on the ground, roughly abeam the rear door on the driver’s side of the vehicle.³⁸

As Officer Pence’s fire slackened off, Twining pressed the offensive, concealed by the shadows, and advanced along a line that would bring him wide and to the north of Unit 78-12, where he could flank and get a better shot at Officer Pence. The pattern of recovered spent cases suggests that Twining fired one round during the early portion of this movement. (Refer again to Figs. 24 and 25.)

As Officer Pence knelt behind the patrol car and began to reload his empty revolver from the right side of his dump pouch, Twining fired four rounds at him from the left flank, striking him twice in the legs (inducing a compound fracture of the left femur and a wound to his right lower leg), and twice again in the lower torso (striking Officer Pence in the left hip and left abdomen). Terribly wounded, Officer Pence struggled to complete his reload of the empty revolver and get back into the fight. (Refer again to Fig. 26.)³⁹

Twining pressed his advantage by closing in on the left rear of the patrol car. Drops of Twining’s blood would later mark the spot near the left rear door handle where he leaned over the fender of the car and extended his pistol at Officer Pence as he reloaded. Twining fired the pistol once from a few feet away, hitting Officer Pence in the back of the head and killing him instantly at the same moment Officer Pence was preparing to close the cylinder on his freshly loaded revolver.

As Twining fired the execution-style shot, the escaping citizen-hero, Gary Kness, heard Twining exclaim, “I’ve got you now, you dumb son of a bitch!” (Refer again to Fig. 27.)⁴⁰

After killing Officer Pence, Twining retreated to the Pontiac, stopping on his way at Officer Gore’s lifeless body to take his revolver. Davis had made his way around the front of the Pontiac and entered the driver’s side of the vehicle to prepare for their escape. (Refer again to Fig. 28.)