Staff writers

May 15, 2008 12:00am

THE shooting of a police officer in a deadly gunfight has sparked fresh calls for police to be armed with semi-automatic pistols.

Senior Constable David McHenry was shot in the leg as he tried to reload his antiquated six-shot revolver while under fire from violent criminal Samir Ograzden.

Rookie police colleague Adam McKenzie - less than an hour into his first night shift - then fired the bullet that killed Ograzden in a South Melbourne car park late on Tuesday night.

The police officers were armed with decades-old Smith & Wesson revolvers. Ograzden used a .22 calibre semi-automatic pistol that can fire 15 rounds.

The police union yesterday threatened to sue police command for failing to arm officers with semi-automatics, despite a State Government promise in 2006.

"We've become the laughing stock of the community with our old wooden-handle weapons," Police Association secretary Sen-Sgt Paul Mullett said.

"If Sen-Constable McHenry had access to the more superior weapon, he might not have found himself seriously injured in hospital."

Link:

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23700500-661,00.html

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