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The Standoff at Sparrow Creek (2018)
[FAINT GUNSHOTS]
[DISTANT GUNFIRE] [TV PLAYING] [MEAT SIZZLING] [MALE VOICE ON TV] [DISTANT GUNFIRE] [DISTANT CONTINUOUS GUNFIRE] [DISTANT GUNFIRE] [TV PLAYING] MALE VOICE [ON RADIO]: Guns fired. Multiple officers down. Wilcock Road. Immediate assistance. I repeat, multiple officers down. Heavy armed gunmen opened fire... [GUNSHOTS CONTINUE] [PHONE RINGING] I heard it. FORD: What time you got? 6:21. FORD: Just be here by 6:30. Nothing but the radio. [CAR DOOR SLAMS SHUT] [STEADY TICKING FROM MOTION SENSOR LIGHT] That's soothing. FORD: Inside. [TICKING CONTINUES] GANNON: Where are the others? FORD: They're on their way. [LIGHT SWITCH CLICKS] FORD: About 30 minutes ago, a gunman opened fire at a crowd of people. I don't know who, I don't know why, I don't know where. But I know the rifle was automatic. GANNON: What's the news say? FORD: Public shooter, multiple fatalities. That's all so far. BECKMANN: Do they know whose it was? - FORD: Whose what was? - A man walked out of the woods with an automatic weapon and started shooting on a funeral at Wilcock Cemetery. Do they know whose it was? On a funeral? That's what I said. [DOOR OPENING] MORRIS: He got away. FORD: Who? The shooter. The shooter got away. - He didn't kill himself? - No! FORD: What does that have to do with anything? Public shooters usually realize how badly they fucked up once they finish. They also realize the solution to that feeling, it's in their hands. It doesn't matter. He's still alive. My bet is, the cops don't even know where the shooter is. MORRIS: They're still searching the area. Helicopters, ground units, dogs, door-to-door. BECKMANN: That's not going to do anything. There's enough leaves in the trees. It'll will cover him from the Heli units and the dogs, they don't pick up the scents or anything. FORD: What do you know? HUBBEL: A guy walked out of the woods, opened fire on a funeral with an AR-15. - What? - AR-15 automatic rifle, body armor, grenades, flash bangs, IEDs planted on the surrounding headstones. Military grade everything. FORD: You're confident on the AR part? Heard it on the news. BECKMANN: I don't think the news realizes that AR-15's bought off the rack are semiauto. MORRIS: So? BECKMANN: The gun was automatic. I heard it. FORD: You heard a modified AR. Okay. So correct me if I'm wrong, but now... aren't we the only people that have those? FORD: ARs are legal. Auto-kits are gettable. It was the cops. Cops funeral. Cop in the casket. Cop in attendance. The IED shrapnel took out most of them. More on their way to St John's. BECKMANN: Jesus Christ! This boring you? What'd you hear, Keating? BECKMANN: Right. Can we not waste time waiting for 'Chief' to speak? [DOOR OPENING] FORD: Well, Noah? They're saying the shooter on the cop funeral was a militia man. How'd they ID him as that? GANNON: It doesn't matter how they IDed him, what matters is, they announced it. BECKMANN: So a militia man just shot up a police funeral and the remaining cops, and the inevitable military reinforcements are searching for... us. NOAH: That's what they're saying. Then we shouldn't let that happen. BECKMANN: Well put, we need to leave. What the fuck are we still doing here? FORD: Let's back up. GANNON: No. Don't go anywhere. Cops already know there's militia presence in the area. They've got checkpoints up. Patrol cars. That call went out 10 minutes after the first shot went off. National Guard reinforcement's going to get brought in. Their undersized police force with not enough cops or cars to put them in become a decent size army with military grade weapons. Not enough lumber warehouses to check. BECKMANN: Okay, fine. We call the cops. Say that we didn't do it. GANNON: You want to bring them over here? We have AR-15s, bump stocks, armor piercing rounds, grenades. We're militia with intent, and each one of us here is going to do 20 years. FORD: Look, you got a point, or you just want to tell me how fucked I am? GANNON: Look, I'm just saying that maybe we should just stay put. - MORRIS: Until when? - Until they find the shooter. And if he's on foot, that'll be quick enough. You guys got phones on you? Standard practice is to check up on every militia member. So I guarantee you they've pinged all our phones. FORD: Yeah. Batteries out now. [BATTERIES CLATTERING] GANNON: No TV. No Internet. FORD: What now? GANNON: Let's clear out the armory. We should get rid of anything that can link us to a shooting. FORD: Let's do it now. [CLATTERING] GANNON: One's missing. FORD: Where's nine? Who's got it? They said he was wearing Kevlar. We're supposed to have 25. How many? BECKMANN: Fewer than that. FORD: Grenades, last time I counted, we had two cases, 48. Safe to say we're several short. The keypad on that door has a self-changing combination every 48 hours. The only people aware of that combination are in this room. One of you did it. [SIGHS] Please... just man up. Save us some pain... and say you did it. Do it, or I'll radio the cops, give them our position. MORRIS: Are you out of your mind? FORD: If I don't give up who did it and they find us, we all go down. Which one of you did it? BECKMANN: Why would anyone do that? Why would he shoot up a bunch of cops and then come back here? GANNON: Arsonists like to watch their work from a crowd. This isn't much different. Where were you? Me? - I was at work. - FORD: Where were you? MORRIS: McNeil's Bar. What else? FORD: Where were you? On a hunt. FORD: Prove it. There's a still warm eight-point buck in my truck bed. FORD: Where were you? Fuckin' sign or something? Huh? NOAH: I was at the range. The guy working there sold me like 100 rounds probably 30 minutes ago. MORRIS: And you? How do we know it's not you? How are we sure this isn't some 'old cop attacks his own' shit? GANNON: I was hunting. - The truck's outside. - MORRIS: So is mine. So what? GANNON: I'm assuming you've hunted once in your life; You know the kill bleeds out in the back of your truck. Why don't you go outside and take a look? I haven't hosed it down... MORRIS: Both you and Hubbel have dead game in your truck. A little convenient. GANNON: Not really. It is deer season. MORRIS: So you're not a suspect because your car's covered in blood. GANNON: If I wanted to kill a bunch of cops, and then come here and hide, is because I want to get away with it. If I want to get away with it, why would I leave blood in the back of my truck? And if I want to kill a bunch of cops and get away with it, I'm not putting the dead ones in the back. MORRIS: An old cop hermit living in the woods snaps. All of a sudden, there's a shooting, and his cover was hunting! And we're the ones left to explain why we let him in in the first place. FORD: Because four militias got taken down last year by infiltrating UC's, and he keeps us clean. So unless you have something of use to say... no one leaves here until I find out who did it. [BECKMANN LAUGHS TO HIMSELF] How are you planning on doing that? FORD: He's gonna question you. Our only option is to prove our innocence that it was a lone gunman. You say no, and we all go to war because one of us has lost his mind. GANNON: I'm going to need a baseline. - How tall are you? - Go fuck yourself. How much do you weigh? Hard. Did you do it, Morris? Really fuckin' hard. GANNON: Where were you before this? - At my job. - Which is? At school. Grading papers. I'm sorry, why are you asking me questions that you already know the answer to? Where are you from? Michigan, originally. How tall are you? 5'3. When is the last time you measured yourself? Ms. Wilson's class. When is your birthday? What's your favorite color? Can you see color? Did you do it? Where were you before this? I was at the range. What time did you get there? NOAH: I don't know. 4:30 maybe. I didn't look at the clock. Why didn't you return my texts? I didn't have my phone. Noah, does anybody in this militia know that you're a cop? I don't know. Any others inside? I don't know. I don't think so. I don't know for sure. I don't know who anyone is or what the hell happened. - I've just... I was. - Shhh. Relax. I'm relaxed. What are you doing? - You can't do that. - No, it's on the phone now. Once I turn this on, the cops will trace it. They'll be here in 10 minutes. Wait, wait, Gannon, don't... I'm gonna tell them you did it. What are you... what are you talking about? You got them to buy your armor piercing rounds for the AR-15s, you did your job. I'm gonna tell them it was you. You're going to tell them who you are. And you're going to get confirmed by your superior. Wait. Just wait. My superior was at the funeral. Marlowe. The only one who knew I was undercover. They said his name on the radio. He was at the funeral. He's gone. If you send me back there, they'll kill me just like they would you. [WHISPERS] Please, Gannon, I can't go back. [SIGHS DEEPLY] Who's running UC's at the 47th Precinct? - Kowalski. - And you have a distress call in case you need extraction, right? Hotel Charlie Echo. Would he know that? I don't know. Maybe. GANNON: Okay. Okay. Here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna find out who did it, and we're going to prove it, and then we get you outta here. Okay? Make sure they confess on tape somehow, otherwise we have nothing. GANNON: I narrowed it down to two. FORD: Then pick two. Morris. MORRIS: Is this a joke? GANNON: No. But if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about. FORD: Okay, you said two. GANNON: Keating. Hubbel, take Morris downstairs to the basement. - Tie him to a chair. - MORRIS: Put a hand on me, I'll pull you in by it and crush your fuckin' skull. GANNON: Hubbel, you keep this trained on his chest from 10 feet away in case he moves. HUBBEL: Let's go. FORD: Keys. [KEYS JINGLE] GANNON: Keating, do you want to make this easy on me? Take Noah out back and tie him to the fence. GANNON: I didn't say Noah. NOAH: I was at the range. FORD: I was thinking about that. The range is 20 minutes away. You were here 10 minutes after I called you. - Where were you? - I was at the range. I swear to God. GANNON: Do you know what you're doing? FORD: You really think you're in a position to question me, Gannon? Bring the federal lamp outside when you're done. We need eyes on the road. BECKMANN: Does your foreman still fish? Is his gear here? FORD: What has that got to do with anything? BECKMANN: Well, I can convert the fish finder to pick up radio signals. We'll know if anybody with a CB radio is near us. And I can convert the CB radio over to LS signals so that we can dodge traces. I don't understand. All right. I can do a bunch of stuff so the cops won't find us, and we'll know if they're near us. Then do that. BECKMANN: Good. And then, go to the comm room afterwards and contact the other militias nearby. - Tell 'em what? - Tell 'em we didn't do it. Then bringing the cars to the loading dock. Keys, both of you now. GANNON: Beck. BECKMANN: Yeah. When you're on the CB, if you hear of a cop named Kowalski, you say this to him twice. He's a friend of mine. - What does it mean? - It means stand down. We have the situation under control. BECKMANN: All right. [CLEARS THROAT] [DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES] How long does something like this usually take? Hours. Days sometimes. Okay. You got neither. Get going. GANNON: Did you bring that deer to your truck on your own? HUBBEL: Mm-hmm. GANNON: Can you bring it down here? HUBBEL: Okay. Hey, how are you doing? You're right. I'm so sorry about this. I'd to bring you down here because I think it's Keating. And if I don't have Keating relaxed and thinking he's going to get away with it, then the whole thing is shot. And why am I still tied to a chair? It's got to look like I really interrogated you. Once sec, don't go anywhere. How are those zip ties? Are they too tight? You better speak up now because if your circulation gets cut off, you are fucked. I'd untie you myself, but we got to keep the appearances up just in case someone comes down here. Cops deserved it, if you ask me. I knew it when I was a cop. It's only a matter of time. Ticking clock. GANNON: Yeah. I still remember what you said to me. The night I joined this militia, you said, "One day, someone's going to snap on you people." Kill every one of you." [WATER BEING POURED] And then you said, "I might be the one to do it." Pretty good memory you got. It was a pretty memorable thing to say. You're telling me I'm the only person who's thinking that at a militia meeting? No, I think everyone here feels the same way. - Including you. - Including me. And yet, I'm tied to this chair and you're free to be over there. This hypothetical situation you threatened me with a year ago, that actually happened tonight. So we're not just keeping up appearances, are we? No. [INDISTINCT]. [BOTH MEN GROANING WITH EFFORT] GANNON: All right. Thank you. This is the part where you ask me why I hate cops so much? When you took a psych evaluation when you got your discharge from the Corps, turns out you have a fear of authoritative figures due to your abusive father. The truth is, my job is to profile. Because of the situation and lack of time, let's just assume you are the shooter. Late 40's, early 50's. Now I can't see the clover leaf tattoo, but I'm assuming it is there because you are ex Aryan Nations. The person sitting in your seat has two choices. Confession or denial. What makes your circumstance so special is that if you confess to me, I'm gonna run upstairs and I'm gonna radio the news, which means you're public. People are gonna know your name. People are gonna know why you did it. There's going to be a trial, and then you're going to go to jail. But in your case, jail as a punishment is defense, because if you don't confess to me right here, right now, the cops come and get you, and if the cops find you... sure as water's wet and time ticks, you get no trial. You're not going to jail. You get tortured within an inch of your life, and then you just disappear. That's it. Nobody knows your name. Nobody knows why you did it, and nobody knows why you martyred yourself. People are just going to ask, what happened to that guy? I don't know. Well... I already know you did it. I just wonder why you did it. And think about this, the reason you're gagging right now and I'm fine with the smell is just to let you know I'm not lying. That's it? You know I did it 'cause of something I said a year ago. Buddy, you got no evidence. You're an ex-member of the Jackson Aryan Brotherhood, correct? - Yeah. - They were responsible for six cop murders in three years. It doesn't mean I did 'em. You have experience dismantling improvised explosive devices in Iraq. Dismantling, not making, you fuckin' genius. The best way to learn how to make some things is to take it apart. You got an affinity for assault rifles, and then that little inadvertent admission to me, an ex-cop, that you were thinking about an attack a year ago that just happened to happen tonight. So you see, evidence really isn't an issue, but you see what happens if you deny this. You and whatever, whoever you care about, they become a stain on the basement floor. I want to help you avoid that. Even if I did it... why is it that you think I would've done it? Aryan Nation is blood in, blood out. If you'd the balls to leave, they probably came after you pretty hard. But they don't threaten you with death. They come and they try to destroy everything you love. Everybody you know. I'm pretty sure you would go to extremes to avoid that. You went after the people they hate the most. You get back in their good graces. Are you serious? I'm the moron ex-Aryan bro looking to get busted. [SARCASTIC CHUCKLE] That's the best you can do? Yeah, that's it. Fuck, you got me, man. I am spooked. Phew! [SIGHING HARD] I was terrified. They were going to kill me. I was desperate. Scared as a lost little girl. That was it right there. Why did you do that? Why do you use that word? I know your whole history. Aryan phase, let's call it that. You had all these priors. Conspire B&E, conspire to sell, and then it was just nothing. And then you join the militia. So it just makes me believe that there was something that happened. Not on the books. It's not in any of the reports. Something happened that made you stop... until tonight. [MORRIS BREATHES OUT LOUDLY] I know you're a hard ass, Morris, and I know you're not allowed to care about anybody or anything because then you're not a hard ass anymore, but I just got this feeling like it was personal. Someone hurt somebody you care about. So you wanted to hurt them. What happened? A cop fuck your wife? Beat up your sister? Bang your daughter? What happened? [ON RADIO]: Rick McCollum here. Gary, Indiana. Responding to a distress call I got. BECKMANN: Rick. We're isolated tech-wise and not giving out any specific locations. So, please excuse my vagueness. RICK: Alright, go ahead. We're calling out to all militia, letting you know that we had nothing to do with anything on the news. RICK: Copy that. You mean what's happening in Michigan or Pennsylvania? Wait, what's happening now? RICK: Are you serious? GANNON: Tell me what happened to her? Unless you're trying to join your friends - from the cemetery. - No, just tell me what they did to her. If the reason you did this was halfway understandable, the public needs to know. The jury will take pity on you. You get moved to a safer prison away from the Aryan Brotherhood. What if what you did wasn't wrong? Think about that. What if what you did was understandable? You got kids? Two. Boys, girls? GANNON: Girls? How old? GANNON: 8 and 12. What if one of them got raped? I'd kill the guy who did it. What if it was a gang? What if they killed her after? When the gang got busted, you find out there was an undercover cop inside, watched it happen and did nothing, just to keep his cover safe. You try to go public, but lawyers don't have enough to make a case and who's going to represent a guy who's been a part of what I have? So the cops keep the case private, the cop anonymous, and turn you into a conspiracy nut. I bet you knew who he was. You guys go huntin', watch the game on Sunday. Celebrate when you heard he wasn't being charged. If what happened to my daughter was done by a normal person, they'd be looking at the death penalty. Why shouldn't a cop? You did what any parent would do. You didn't start this, Morris. They did. Tell me you did it. Tell me you did it. I killed that son of a bitch because he watched my daughter die, and I waited a week, and came back for the rest of 'em who let him get away with it. You want me to confess to doing what needed to be done? Fine. Go get the radio. What was his name? Who? The cop you killed, what was his name? Michaels. I'll bring the radio down. He's lying. The funeral was for a cop named Callahan, not Michaels. We use him anyway. Give him to the cops, they got their man. Give up the position of the entire group to hand over the wrong guy? It buys us time. They're not going to break him. [FORD SLAPS MORRIS] When I get out of this... Well, have at it. You just wanted to give her some publicity. You didn't do shit. You still think they won't break him? [DOOR OPENS] [LIGHT SWITCH CLICKS OFF] BECKMANN: It's spreading. There's been three more attacks on cops, all by militias. FORD: Where? BECKMANN: One in South Dakota on a police precinct, one in Utah on a district court, and one in Pennsylvania on a cop car. How many cops down total? - Eighty, give or take. - Take how many? Well, if I knew the answer to that, I wouldn't have said give or take. Talked to any of the leaders? BECKMANN: Two. Both said they're ready to launch attacks. GANNON: Where? Pennsylvania, and another one about seven miles from here. The 47th Precinct. Take out the last of them, they said. They keep saying they were inspired by them. GANNON: No, no! We can't let them do that. Did you bet on the 48th or something? You're too close in proximity. We're both under the same umbrella. - Or a different group. - GANNON: To who? Do it. Tell them we had nothing to do with this. To stop following it. Alright. I need to talk to Keating. HUBBEL: You talk to people? Never heard you talk. Don't know if you ever even spoke before. I live here 13 years now, so I keep quiet myself. They've got schools for kids like you? I was a highway contractor... until one of my crew fucked up a pour. Used cheaper concrete than usual. I had a pothole so big, a semi hit it and capsized. Eighteen-car pileup. Five dead. I cover for the foreman and get the crew to keep quiet. One night, the foreman started tellin' me about coming clean, 'cept his coming clean was a lie. He'd get reduced time if he said that me and my crew wanted to use that cheap concrete to cause the rupture. Now, I didn't have one, but all my crew had family at home. How are they going to take care of their own from Jackson Correctional? So I killed him. Moved out here, save the others a lot of trauma. But I gotta say, sometimes I get tired and I miss it. Back there. GANNON: Hey Hubbel, wanna post up somewhere else? FORD: It's not Keating. What? We know it's not Morris. Right. FORD: Then that leaves Keating. The fuckin' mute moron who is incapable of talking, much less manning goddamn inspiring attack. Or Noah, who is. Keating's not our guy. No, you have to let me question him. FORD: No, you don't. He's not the guy. Then what are you proposing? FORD: We write a confession. Have Noah call the cops on the CB to say he did it. Then we hand him over to them. - Why don't you get this? - Wait a minute. Are you telling me you think it's Noah because he was late? - FORD: No, because... - But you don't think it's Keating because he doesn't talk. Do you have any idea what's going on out there? Do you get it? This thing has spread. If we don't pin this on one person, this whole thing is going to turn into something that's not going to end, and a lot of people are going to die. It wasn't Noah. Why not Noah, you smug son of a bitch? Do you know something I don't know? Okay. You know what? You're right. You're right. It's Noah. That's the best option you got. Besides, it's not like when the shootings happen, that the gunman was ever described as... detached... quiet, antisocial. It's not like when these things happen, anybody ever says, I never imagined it would have been that guy. Right? I'm going to question my suspect. I'd like you to stay out of my way. What? You're hiding something. What is it? HUBBEL: We always knew this was going to happen. BECKMANN [ON RADIO]: Calling out to Abilene Militia. Do not engage with the 47th Precinct. - I repeat. - [SLOW, STEADY BEEPING] HUBBEL: We've been coming here, getting together every week for years to be prepared. Well, what have we been prepping for? For the day we hoped we'd never see, the day the seize happens. The morning Doomsday rolls in. [RADIO BEEPING] Well, that day may look a little different now, but that day is here. They say a militia man did this and we're sitting here trying to make everybody think it wasn't us. GANNON: If you turn that on, they come here and none of us make it out. HUBBEL: We should be at the armory loading up, go to that cop precinct as one... us versus them, because this fight, it has started, and we got to win it. So we go to war with cops? Deep down, who didn't really want that? [DISTANT CLATTERING] - BECKMANN: Hey. - [RUNNING FOOTSTEPS] Hey, there's a car rolling down now. FORD: Lights out. BECKMANN: Lights out now! Now! [LIGHTS OUT] [CAR PULLS UP OUTSIDE] [] GANNON: What the hell are you doing? FORD: I'm not gonna die for something I didn't do. [GANNON SIGHS] [SHUTTER CLATTERING] [SHUTTER CLATTERING] FORD: [WHISPERS] If he sees Noah, the others will go. [SHUTTER CLATTERING] GANNON: Call in a location with other militia. [WHISPERING] What are you talking about? Listen to me, the cops will leave if you call another location. The militia that was gonna attack the 47th. [HEAVY BREATHING] [SHUTTER CLATTERING] GANNON: [MUTTERS] The side door. He's gonna see Noah. Goddamn it! [SHUTTER CLATTERING] FEMALE VOICE [ON RADIO]: Six-one-two... BECKMANN: I'd like to report the location of a militia in Kitchman planning an attack on the 47th Precinct. Their location is 1-8-9-2-1. [CRUNCHING FOOTSTEPS] [STATIC ON DISPATCH RADIO] POLICE OFFICER: Dispatch, this is Unit 4301, copy that. - En route. - [RADIO CLICKS OUT] [CAR DOOR OPENS] [CAR ENGINE STARTS] GANNON: Hey! I'm gonna go check on Noah. FORD: Hubbel, go with him. You won't mind company. [DOOR OPENS] [DOOR CREAKS] GANNON: Hey Hubbel, I need to go talk to the suspect alone. Why don't you stand here and try not to fuck everything up by being yourself? [GANNON SIGHS] GANNON: It wasn't Morris. NOAH: How do you know? GANNON: It was Keating. - NOAH: You questioned him? - Not yet. NOAH: Then, how do you know? Because it has to be. You'll never get him to confess. He doesn't talk. Then he can write it down. They'll kill me if you don't get him to confess. I'm not going to leave you here. All right? You're my brother. I'll get you out. [CHUCKLES] [EXHALES DEEPLY] GANNON: All right. FORD: Hey... Need you here. Kinda in the middle of something... FORD: Now. If you try and go over my head like that again, I'll hand you over to the cops myself. Turn it up. AM NEWS 1130 FEMALE REPORTER: Took place over 30 seconds, and the assailant fired off 400 rounds, but police have informed us in fact, it took two minutes and 1,400 rounds. Also, the attack took place on the south side of the cemetery, which has authorities puzzled, considering the difficulties to gain access to the south side by car. - For AM News 11:30, I'm... - [CB TURNED DOWN] FORD: If you can't prove it's Keating, I'm going to write a confession note, I'm going to string a noose, and I'm going to hang Noah. Beckmann says public shooters usually kill themselves. Then this one can too, just a little later than usual. [CLATTERING] [ZIPPING] [FOOTSTEPS] [GANNON STARTS A FORKLIFT] GANNON: I know you don't talk much. I also know you can hear. Page nine. That is particularly interesting. "Each and all, they will lay reticent." "Taciturn..." "Gone to the dim and out with silence." "Their crime" "whose only punishment fit" "is execution," [CLEARS THROAT] "Yet it could have been ceased," "extinguished, yielded," "if only" "the ones who spoke" [EXHALES] "Are established." [RUSTLING] Keating, let me explain what's gonna happen to you here. You're either going to confess, or I'm going to say you did it. And they will come here, and they're going to put your neck in that... and you're gonna swing from it. And that really would be a tragedy because no one is gonna know what you had to say in all this. KEATING: This was nice. A very nice thing to watch. But did you really think it would work? This little performance would make me want to confess? A stage reading in my journal, which is inadmissible at best, would excite me to take responsibility for these actions? I can tell you're not using FAINT interview technique due to your lack of structure, but as nice as this was, it wasn't effective. [RUNNING FOOTSTEPS] FORD: Are you out of your fuckin' mind? Did you fire off a fuckin' round? Yes. He did. POLICE SQUAD CAR 1: Negative, Clark County, Nevada just had three separate attacks. Over. POLICE HQ RADIO: Copy that. Any news activity in Texas as well? Over. POLICE SQUAD CAR 2: Copy. How many Tac units got dispatched to Top Hill? Over. KOWALSKI'S VOICE: Kowalski, here. That's 23 units, two-three. Over. Running up to Groves and Witheby, got a call on a vacant auto. Over. Yes, Lieutenant Kowalski. Over. POLICE HQ RADIO: This is a closed channel, goddamn it. Copy that. I have a message for you. Hotel Charlie Echo. I repeat, Hotel Charlie Echo. KOWALSKI: Who is this? I-I can't... I can't tell you that. KOWALSKI: Hang on, HQ. Got a group of men inside the vehicle on Groves and Witheby. Over. POLICE HQ RADIO: Copy that. Kowalski, proceed with caution. And whoever this is, I repeat, this is a closed goddamn channel. KOWALSKI: HQ, HQ, men descending on my position from tree-line! Immediate assistance requested, I repeat... [STATIC AND THEN SILENCE ON RADIO] POLICE HQ DISPATCH: Kowalski? MALE VOICE: Kowalski, please respond. KEATING: Try not to seem so shocked. Any person of intelligence will keep silent in this environment. HUBBEL: An outcast mute, all of a sudden, starts talking like he's a book. I got a feeling this has been rehearsed. GANNON: If you want me to talk to Salinger here, I need you guys to walk away. Now you picked a pretty special night to start talking. KEATING: Most topics under discussion here, I disagree with or am not qualified to give an opinion on. GANNON: So why even be here? KEATING: I was instructed to socialize more. - GANNON: By who? - Whom. You seem smart. Guess. GANNON: So you picked a militia to socialize. KEATING: This is the only environment which qualifies where no one cared whether or not I spoke as long as I showed up and believed in the cause. GANNON: Right, I'm gonna have to ask you a few more questions just because I'm now dealing with a completely different human being. KEATING: Be my guest. - GANNON: What's your name? - Keating Vassileff. GANNON: Where do you live? KEATING: 6420, Clifton Road. GANNON: How old are you? KEATING: 23. GANNON: What is the highest grade of education you completed? KEATING: I was four credits short of graduating summa cum laude on a Mitchell Scholarship at University of Michigan. At 19, however... Did you commit the shooting? Which one? What do you mean, which one? One put an officer in the ground, another took down those attending his funeral. Which one? Did you conspire to commit either? KEATING: Conspire, as in making plans in secret in an attempt to carry out an unlawful or harmful act with another human being? Yeah, that's the one. KEATING: There's something you have to understand about me. I'm isolated. And because of my isolation, I've had to compensate. And my personal form of such was learning, absorbing knowledge, collecting information. So I know all the ways you failed to do what it is you're currently trying to do. MITT technique. Scan method. Integrated irrelevant questions. None will work. So please, sit. Give me everything you have. Show me my mistakes. Show me how you know it was me. You're not going to make this easy on me, are you? Easy for me? Yes. For you? I can't say. GANNON: You have enough ammunition in your locker to take down a branch of government. KEATING: That's militia armor. There's enough evidence in there to incriminate every one of us. You've the map of the cemetery and a plan and the exact same style of attack. Plans? Yes. Of what? Who could say? GANNON: It's a 300-page manifesto of reasons why the world never listened to you, wrapped up in the psychopath gold standard of a fucking novel. I'm still learning my writing style. Do you ever lie to get out of trouble? I've never been in trouble. Ever tried to get even with someone? Getting even means lowering yourself. So, no. Comparative questions and leveraging identifiable traits. This isn't working. Change tactic. What are you gonna do when they find your DNA at the cemetery? They will. I walk there, all the time. God, you're a smart kid. A compliment to gain rapport. This is insulting to the mental capacity of the accused. Is that something they recommend when teaching this method? You know what's interesting? - What? - Why haven't you brought up the fact that Morris and Noah have splash patterns of mud on their pant legs, and I don't? GANNON: It didn't rain today. KEATING: But it rained all week. Safe to say there's mud near a cemetery if you're escaping on foot. GANNON: Safe to say you own another pair of pants. Why haven't you swabbed copper and potassium chloride on our wrists to see whose show gunpowder residue? Because you'd see that I haven't shot a gun in days, but one of them has. Gun residue tests are inherently unreliable. Did you forget that we live within two miles of each other? And I assume you heard it. I thought it was fireworks at first. So I turned on my police scanner. "Shots fired on officer funeral in progress." 1010, Wilcox Road, explosive devices detonated. "Immediate assistance requested." So what? You know what they said on the radio. You could have heard it while you were attack... I could have heard a radio over an AR-15 assault rifle? GANNON: Are you going to stop? I get it. You do? GANNON: Yeah, I do. You know, when I first went off by myself, people asked if I was lonely. And I answered them people looking at me funny saying they didn't think I knew how to talk. You know, and they said loneliness is worse than smoking. It causes heart disease, depression, suicide, early death in all its variants. I say, bullshit. I say, togetherness, that's weakness. Loneliness brought us everything. Loneliness brought us the great books, great musicians. I say loneliness builds... I lie. Because the truth is, I live in a room alone. I got the shades drawn, bottles on the floor, all the smartest ways to hate the world and fastest ways to go insane. Brilliant. Morose. Typical... just like you. Both of us thinking we're poles apart from each other. Both of us thinking that we're the other ones that people look up to. You're brilliant, Keating. You're just like me. I know you did it. And we're not going to stop until you say you did. [KEATING SIGHS HEAVILY] Force of assertion plus leverage to get a confession. I don't mean to trade monologues with you, but you know what happens in solitary confinement? I got a feeling I'm gonna find out. Sensory deprivation, social skills nullify, they move their beds to the wall so that they can feel something. You say loneliness builds. I say it amplifies. Makes you notice what you wished you didn't. And the real question is, how do you fight that feeling? You sleep with your TV on and have friends who you've nothing in common with, marry who you don't love? Join a militia for an unknown reason. Whatever put you out there by yourself, Gannon, eavesdropping on the world that lost its use for you, punishing society by depriving it of your presence, I really don't care about. What I do care about is: What could possibly bring you back into this? I told you why I joined the militia, - but why would you? - [GANNON SNIFFLES] I mean, you don't strike me as a classic 'minuteman' so that takes 'belief' out. An ex-cop moves out on his own suggests you wanted to be away from guns, not be near them again. So I'm left with: A person. Someone in here secretly matters to you more than you let on. So, who is it? I can't say it's me. Beckmann seems a little high strung for you. Morris? No. Hubble? No. That leaves Ford... and Noah. What's so special about him, Gannon? What's it going to feel like having to hang someone so important to you? GANNON: Open your fuckin' mouth. Open your mouth. Eat it. Eat it, you little shit, say it. I wanna hear you say it. I wanna hear you say you did it, or I'm gonna feed you your own fuckin' diary. Your own fuckin' diary! [KEATING GAGS AND COUGHS] [PANTING] FORD: Where we at with Holden Caulfield? Gannon? [GANNON SIGHS] FORD: Bring Noah in. No! GANNON: You know, all these shootings; You know what they all have in common? Everyone knows the shooter's name. What if... I took that away from you? What if I did it? You won't. [GUN CLICKS] GANNON: You asked me a question, Keating. Why did I leave? When I was a cop, I worked in anti-gang units. I was a UC; We'd go into these different groups. We'd plant evidence, and we raid 'em. There's another cop I used to work with, Richmond. And we were taking down a white supremacy cell. I got a call from my superior. He says, meet me... out in the woods. What are we doin' out here? GANNON: Eleven of 'em come out. [GUN CLICKS] So he starts taking these bullets... and he's throwing 'em at my feet, tacks to see if I'd move. ROMAN: If we do this, and blame it on the Klan cell you're in, we can raid them tonight, and any other group that they're working with by Rico. You're out. If we do what? [SWITCH CLICKS ON] GANNON: And there was Richmond. ROMAN: We've been sending him threats from the Klan cell for the past three months. Got fingerprints from Klan members left at his house and we can place three of his key leaders at this scene here tonight. So, now, all you need to do... Why him? We need a body. And the only other person we can place prints on, is you. [EMPTY CLICK OF GUN] GANNON: Kill one of your own to take down the others. I need to know where you stand. [SINGLE GUNSHOT] GANNON: We raided 15 Klan cells that week, stopped 'em from doing God knows what. But I was done. I lost someone that night. I'm not going to do it again. Tonight should've been me. [ROTATING PISTOL BARREL] And now when they find my body, who will it be? [LOUD GUNSHOT] KEATING: I did it. My name is Keating Vassileff. I'm 23 years old. I live at 6420 Clifton Road. I'm the gunman who attacked the funeral. I planned the attack alone. I carried it out alone. The militias had no prior knowledge of my intentions, nor do they condone my actions. The weapon used is my AR-15, which I obtained legally without any additional participant in the delivery of the weapon or ammunition. I chose to attack north side Wilcox Cemetery because that's the fastest route to the highway so that the attack could take place in less than 30 seconds. And that's when I fired up about, about 400 rounds. 400 exactly. And, I chose to escape on foot because that would have the least amount of attention for that kind of travel, and no one would expect someone such as myself to have the mental acuity to see through the expectations of what people think I'm capable of, consistently. The reasoning for my assault, for my raid on these people, is justified and warranted by those attacked who forced me to be the champion of this cause because, because they chose to ignore me. They chose not to listen to me. They chose not to include me. So I... I included them. Their inefficiency, their ineptitude, their mediocrity, their blatant inferiority is what delivered this reckoning. And I acted as the pitchfork, as the staff, as, as the... Um, and, and that's, that's why I did what I did. I'll be waiting on the corner of Mound and Middlebelt Road in 25 minutes, unarmed. Are we good? POLICE OFFICER 1: Another false confession. POLICE OFFICER 2: Third one in the last hour. POLICE OFFICER 3: They just keeping coming. Don't pay any attention. POLICE OFFICER 2: You may wanna think about changing channels to cut down on the nut factor. FORD: Two people lying about the same crime in less than an hour. GANNON: It's my job to get a confession. Not the truth. FORD: It's Noah. [DOOR OPENS] [DOOR CLOSES] It's not Morris... and it's not Keating. Noah... I need to hear, I need to hear you didn't do it. Tell me you didn't do it. All I ever wanted was to not be an embarrassment to you, just once, Gannon. Just once. GANNON: What are you talking about? What did you do? I'm sorry. [NOAH SNIFFS] You don't understand. [DOOR BANGS OPEN, CREAKS] GANNON: Whoa, whoa, whoa! FORD: You have got a gun. Untie him. GANNON: You're making a big mistake here. I need you to listen to me for a second. Alright. Listen to me. FORD: Step away. Step away. GANNON: Listen to me. It's not him. Ford... wait a minute. Stop! Ford, he's my brother. FORD: So? [STRUGGLING FOOTSTEPS] NOAH: Gannon. [GANNON PANTING] Gannon! [NOAH GRUNTS] I didn't do it. [GRUNTS] Gannon, please. Please, Gannon. Please. [FORKLIFT SWITCHED ON] [FORKLIFT SWITCHED OFF] [PHONE RINGING] FORD: Who's got their phone? Who's got their fucking phone? Spread out, find it! Find it! Watch him. [PHONE CONTINUES TO RING] You know where it is. [STEADY PINGS] [STEADY PINGS CONTINUE] [LOUDER BEEPING] GANNON: The cops are coming, man. I need you ready. - HUBBEL: How long do we have? - [LOUD GRUNT AND THUD] [HUBBEL GRUNTS] [CLATTERING] [NOAH GROANS] [PHONE RINGING GETS LOUDER] KEATING: It's a timer. [PHONE RINGING STOPS] [NOAH GROANS] GANNON: Come on, are you alright? Come on. Get up. Can you walk? Come on. [NOAH GRUNTS] FORD: The whole time! You ruined us. You brought this. [FAINT BANGS OUTSIDE] [FAINT BANGS OUTSIDE] [TEAR GAS CANISTERS CRASH] Out! Now! [GRUNTS] [PANTING] [PANTING] [DOOR OPENS] [COUGHS] [GRUNTS] [INDISTINCT CHATTER ON RADIO] POLICE OFFICER: Are you undercover? [SHUTTERS CLATTERING] [LOUD CLATTER] Ford, tell them it was you and me. It was you and me. Ford, you just got to tell the truth. You tell them it was you and me, and everybody else goes free. FORD: He's lying. GANNON: You guys hear that? It was me and Ford. FORD: Shut the fuck up. [MOTION LIGHT TICKING] [CONTINUES TO TICK] [HEAVY BREATHING] [TICKING CONTINUES] [LIGHTS SWITCHED OFF] [HEAVY GUNFIRE] [HEAVY BREATHING] [CAR DOORS CLOSE] [INDISTINCT CHATTER ON RADIO] [HEAVY BREATHING] KOWALSKI: Alright, get Noah up. KOWALSKI [ON RADIO]: Kowalski here with 23 unit. HQ, HQ, militia ascending on my position from tree line. Immediate assistance requested. I repeat. Immediate assistance. Get them back to the precinct to be debriefed. FEMALE OFFICER [ON RADIO]: 32, Oscar Victor Charlie... I've got a Caucasian male at the lumber warehouse on Sparrow and Cedar. AM NEWS 1130 REPORTER: Attack took place over 30 seconds, and the assailant firing off 400 rounds. AM News 11:30. FEMALE OFFICE [ON RADIO]: Need immediate Evac. PATROLMAN: Somebody get HQ on the radio. Tell them we need a body disposal unit. [GUNFIRE] POLICE OFFICER: We've got four down, right away, please. [INDISTINCT CHATTER ON RADIO] All they did was make threats. Say they were going to attack us, we needed to do something. [DISTANT GUNFIRE] So we faked an attack on ourselves. You made it up? And all it took was hiding a single gun to make them tear themselves apart. We plant the seed of society being torn down, chaos actually happening, spreading, making them believe that others were following along, that they started some revolution. Coming together as who we needed them to be. They believed they weren't alone in this, but really, they're part of nothing. An Ex-Aryan Brotherhood member who ties to cop murders. A missing highwayman responsible for five deaths, some kid plotting to shoot up his old high school. These aren't a loss, Gannon. These are pieces on a board for a bigger play. Northern Michigan militia found with automatic weapons. Armor piercing rounds, and plans to attack a police funeral. If you bring in the best interrogator the police ever had? Someone who's made people confess to what they've never done countless times? Someone who knows we track signals, and will keep the militia on a defensive, unreachable lockdown. One night gives us a tipping point. No more psychopaths with automatic rifles, no more lunatics who can go buy a machine gun and walk into a school. We did it perfectly. [POLICE OFFICERS SHOUTING] Stay down. Put it down, Gannon. Why didn't you tell me? [SNIFFS] You could have just... [EXHALES] After everything I did. Why didn't you just tell me? I'm sorry. You're not a cop anymore. POLICE OFFICER: Good to see you again, brother. NOAH: You too. KOWALSKI: Guns down. Take care of yourself out there. You know... We could use some help. Coming? Whenever I get lonely From my daydreams of you These words I read remind me Of the love we once knew They tell of all The happiness of days gone by And I grieve until it Dries the tears that Come to my eyes I know those days are gone And are a part of the past But memories and dreams Of them forever will last And I must learn To realize You're no longer mine While the poetry will Comfort me with every line I tell myself you're Thinking of me Each time I think about you But now I know It never could be They told me forget him It's the only thing to do And so when I get lonely From my daydreams of you These words I read remind Me of the love we once knew And I must learn To realize You're no longer mine While the poetry will Comfort me with every line What for the radiance Which was once so bright And now forever taken From my sight Though nothing Can bring back The hour of splendor In the grass Of glory in the flower We will grieve not We'll define strength In what remains behind [BACKGROUND CHORUS] [BACKGROUND CHORUS] [WIND BLOWING] |
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