- When Sergeant Gabriel wounds an unarmed suspect, Brenda finds herself at odds with the FID Captain - a woman who is as single-minded and as intense as she is - jockeying for position and Gabriel's career.
- Brenda finds herself up against a pretty tough colleague in the form of Capt. Sharon Raydor when Sgt. Gabriel is investigated over a shooting incident. Gabriel was in a bar having a drink with Commander Taylor when they hear gunshots outside. Gabriel doesn't hesitate and rushes outside to find a newspaper vendor shot to death. When he tells a suspect to stop, he hears gunshots and sees flashes and returns fire, critically injuring a young man. Unfortunately for Gabriel, no gun is to be found. Raydor's team is tasked to investigate all shootings involving police officers, and a clash of wills soon develops with Brenda, who not only wants to prove Gabriel innocent but to investigate the news vendor's murder, which she believes may have been racially motivated. Meanwhile, Brenda may have a very hard decision to make about her cat.—garykmcd
- Sgt. Gabriel shoots a murder suspect whom he is certain is armed and firing at him, but the evidence does not match up with his account. Enter Capt. Sharon Raydor, the head of the Force Investigation Division, whose responsibility is to investigate the shooting, but her investigation into Sgt. Gabriel interferes with Brenda's investigation into the murder, which may have been ethnically motivated.—TNT Publicity
- Sgt. Gabriel has a quiet drink by himself at the bar. Commander Taylor joins him, but orders soda. Gabriel pumps him for information on Irene Daniels. She wouldn't even read the letter he wrote her. There are some things you can't apologize for, Taylor tells him. She's moved on, he says, and Gabriel should, too. Taylor tells Gabriel it doesn't make sense, Daniels gets promoted and he's the bad guy. Sanchez won't talk to him, Tao's only polite and Brenda doesn't confide in him anymore. Taylor suggests he go for detective instead.
Suddenly, they hear shots outside. Gabriel draws his gun and runs out. He scans the street and finds a newspaper down on the sidewalk, shot in the chest. There's a noise across the street - two gun shots, flashes show. Gabriel shouts at whoever it is to stop and show his hands then shoots at him six times. Gabriel approaches the man down, asking him where his gun is.
Paramedics arrive and take the man away. Taylor tells Gabriel to go to the ER with him because he's dying and now's his only chance to question him.
Captain Sharon Raydor (Mary McDonnell) with the Force Investigations Division arrives and starts managing the scene. Flynn and Provenza wait on the other side of the police tape. They want to look into the newspaper vendor's murder. But she says it's her jurisdiction. She's not impressed Taylor let Gabriel leave the scene after he'd been drinking. She asks where he's going and when Taylor says Cedars she heads there to find him.
Brenda beats her there and finds Gabriel. He's waiting for word on the kid he shot, Eric. Gabriel tells her that in the ambulance Eric said he didn't want to die and no one was supposed to get hurt. Then he tells her he may have made a mistake -- he never read the kid his rights. Dying declarations are admissible at murder trials, she points out. He doesn't find this comforting.
She preps him for what's coming. Taylor sent Raydor to the wrong hospital to buy them some time. Brenda wants to hear the story. He mentions that Eric fired his gun twice at him. She says that Force Investigations is going to tell him Eric had no gun and there were no ricochet marks behind him. As far as they're concerned, he shot an unarmed man.
Gabriel's attorney shows up. He doesn't want an attorney, but Brenda tells him he does.
Capt. Raydor comes in and starts in chastising him for leaving the scene. Then she tells him to take a Breathalyzer. Brenda watches nervously.
Then she starts telling Capt. Raydor how nice it was to finally meet her. Raydor isn't impressed Brenda beat her to the hospital. Brenda offers some friendly advice, saying she usually investigates the underlying crime before focusing on a fellow officer. In icy return, Raydor tells her she intends to focus her energy on an unarmed civilian who was "sprayed" with bullets. Brenda gets all I'm-Brenda-Don't-You-Mess-With-Me and reminds Capt. Raydor to address her as "chief."
Back at home, Brenda cleans up Kitty's barf, but lies to Fritz, saying he's (she's) fine. Brenda doesn't want to take her to the vet again.
At the office, Pope, with Raydor and Brenda present, asks Taylor why he sent Raydor to the wrong hospital and put Gabriel in the ambulance. Taylor says he was off duty and was a little tipsy. (But the record reflects he was drinking soda.) Brenda argues her case to Pope to be allowed to investigate the murder of the newspaper vendor as Raydor talks over her and ends up shouting that her case must go first. She calls Brenda's attempts to pull rank embarrassing and potentially an obstruction of justice. Pope watches the women fight their verbal turf war. The kid Gabriel shot is doing better.
Brenda says the witnesses say the newspaper vendor was robbed before he was shot. Eric had only a few bucks on him. Pope hears Raydor arguing they're two separate cases and says it will be so. Brenda gets the murder and Raydor gets Eric. But Gabriel has to sit both out.
In the hallway, Raydor politely asks Brenda not to interfere with her case. "You stay out of my way, I'll stay out of yours," Brenda snaps back. And it is SO on.
At the autopsy, the coroner tells them the news vendor was shot at close range. But he's bothered that the wounds are so clean. He was shot with wadcutters, target rounds.
Back in the squad room Tao explains that the murder weapon is probably a revolver. Gabriel can't help but pipe up that that would explain why there were no casings at the crime scene. Brenda reminds him he can't participate. So Flynn raises his hand and reiterates the point.
The witnesses were a divorced couple, Ron and Tina Drake, who were in the their car for an hour before a shooting. They didn't recognize Eric's photo at all.
Buzz drops by to tell Brenda he can't go to the scene because Raydor said no civilians allowed. Brenda promptly ignores that and takes everyone to the crime scene - Gabriel included, as a witness.
At the scene, Brenda gets everyone in place according to the chalk outlines, with Gabriel where he was and Flynn where Eric was. She looks around for Buzz but doesn't see him - because he's standing directly behind Flynn.
Tao explains the concept of syzygy, when three things line up in a perfect row, just like Gabriel, Eric and whoever must have fired behind him.
Brenda thinks Eric was the lookout.
She asks Gabriel for his gun and loads it with some blanks from Tao. She announces what she's doing and then fires from the spot where Gabriel supposedly shot from, watching where the casings go. He wasn't standing where the crime scene chalk shows him. The casings are in the wrong place. They figure where he really fired from from the chalk outlines of his casings.
They scan what was actually behind Gabriel and find bullet casings in a tree - a wadcutter. They later learn they're the same bullets that killed the newspaper vendor, so whoever fired at Gabriel was the murderer, but that doesn't prove Eric was involved.
At the hospital, Brenda wants to talk to Eric but his parents and lawyer are outside his door. Proflynnza gets right on distracting them. Brenda sneaks in. Eric's awake. He says he doesn't remember anything about being shot. She tells him the shooter ran right by him, then takes his nurse's call button from him. She tells him about his "nobody is supposed to get hurt" comment in the ambulance. He denies having said it. Brenda teaches him about transferred intent, meaning that everybody involved in a crime that results in murder is guilty and could get the death penalty. He says he was just standing there but won't say why. She gets in his face, saying she's going to prove he was involved.
His dad and lawyer bust in. The dad asks "what's with you people, you care more about investigating some dead Arab than you do my son."
Brenda's making her way outside when she runs into the LA Times reporter Ricardo Ramos. She offers him an exclusive if he gives her 24 hours, tantalizing him with the promise that it might be more than an officer-involved shooting.
Back at the station, Brenda wants all the info on Eric. She's beginning to think it was a hate crime.
Fritz calls with news from the vet. Kitty isn't getting better. He tells her they have to try to keep her comfortable and she knows what needs to be done. Brenda says she can't do it.
Taylor warns Brenda that Raydor is in the office with Pope. Gabriel says if Eric was really unarmed, maybe he should call his attorney. She tells him to sit tight.
Pope wants to know about her interrogating Eric. She says he's a suspect now. Raydor demands Brenda share whatever evidence she has supporting that. She starts getting really ramped up, accusing Brenda of protecting Gabriel and acting in a way that might warrant a federal investigation.
Pope tells Brenda a little sensitivity might be called for because Eric's family recently lost a family member in Afghanistan. Marine gunnery Sgt. William Roth was Eric's uncle, killed 19 days ago. Brenda thinks the newspaper man's death might have been revenge. Provenza finds a complaint about shots fired at the Roth address recently. Roth's son Billy, Eric's cousin, was playing target practice with his neighbor's fence last week.
The team visits the neighbor who filed the complaint. He feels bad about it now. They find the bullets in the fence. Tao eyeballs the wadcutter and calls it a preliminary match.
At the hospital, they learn that the Roths have gone to Omaha. Also, six witnesses at the scene ID'd Billy Roth from a photo array. Ricardo Ramos arrives. Brenda has a timing problem. Ramos wants his story now, Raydor files her report tomorrow and they won't have Billy Roth in custody for at least 48 hours. She'll have to get what she needs from Eric. But his parents and lawyer are back outside the door. Brenda looks at Ramos.
A minute later, he walks down the hall and tells Eric's parents he wants to tell their story. They go with him.
Brenda goes in the room, saying she talked to Billy and he told her they were just going to hassle the guy, but Eric had other ideas. Brenda pulls out the murder weapon and lays things out for him, saying she has him for homicide. She reads him his rights. In a panic to explain, he waives them.
He didn't know about the gun. They were just going to kick the guys a-- and steal his money because he's Muslim and "we're at war with Muslims." He says they ran and when he heard Gabriel he stopped and was turning around and raising his hands, but Billy was behind him and he fired at Gabriel. Twice.
He says again that no one was supposed to get hurt, and now look at him. For his information, Brenda tells him, the "Arab" they killed wasn't Arab, or a Muslim. He was an American citizen and he was Jewish. She's leaving when his parents come back in. The dad accuses her of accosting their son, but she corrects him. She's arresting him for murder one.
Out in the hall, Ramos is ready to collect the tit for his tat. She tells him the headline should read "LAPD sergeant cleared of all charges."
Taylor tries to prep Gabriel for his interview with Raydor. Sanchez finally pipes up, prepping him with a question. Raydor comes for him. Gabriel turns and thanks both men.
Gabriel meets with Brenda and Raydor. Raydor tells Gabriel the DA won't be filing charges against him. Raydor asks "chief" if that's all. Brenda lays it on thickly, thanking Raydor for helping to teach her about FID's "single minded approach." Raydor tells her she'll be including her findings, essentially, on Brenda in her report. Brenda can't wait to read it. Raydor leaves.
Brenda tells Gabriel not to doubt himself on this. He still feels bad about shooting an unarmed kid. She reminds him how the law sees Eric as just as guilty. He sees it differently. He thanks her for standing up for him. "Well, sergeant," she tells him, "if I'm going to be upset with you when you're wrong, the least I can do is stand up for you when you're right."
He goes back to his desk and takes it all in. He takes out the letter to Irene Daniels and rips it up.
Back at home, Brenda goes to sick Kitty on the couch. She tells Fritz she was only thinking of herself and not Kitty. She called the vet, who's coming over to put her to sleep in her own home. Brenda cries as she says good-bye.
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