This document is part of a series about Randall "Duke" Cunningham's attempted murder / suicide on November 25th, 2005
Home page for "Cunningham's Last Battle" web site / Contact the author / victim / witness Russell 'Ace' Hoffman
June 25th, 2006
To: "Logan Jenkins" <logan.jenkins@uniontrib.com>
Re: Dreams come true?
Dear Mr. Logan,
To those who might claim, as you suggested some would, that this whole thing was some sort of "fantasy-come-true" for a fighter-pilot buff, I should mention (aside from the fact that I didn't feel like dying that night, and I could pay any day of the week to climb into a REAL cockpit and play "fighter-pilot" anyway), I ALSO have read scores of books on police, cops, catching criminals, and dealing with illegals. And I don't just mean Mario Puzo, whom I actually haven't read. I mean books about the detectives who catch the bad guys.
Plus, a really good friend used to be a cop, and I went over the way the cops were acting to understand their behavior, and we've talked many times about how cops think (because, after reading scores of books on the subject, it was GREAT to get to know a REAL cop (ex-cop, he had a drinking problem) and get the inside scoop.
So you could just as well say that prosecuting THIS case against ALL who have committed grievous and / or heinous crimes against my wife and I in THIS case is the "dream-come-true" just as easily as you could claim the "dogfight" on the streets of San Marcos was, itself, some sort of fulfillment of one's boyhood destiny. I don't like seeing injustice. What the cops did that night was wrong, but it will serve a purpose -- but ONLY because I read those scores of books and I think I know how to shake and squeeze and use "the system" to get justice in THIS case -- we'll see, of course, but I now have a plan.
And by the way, I no longer believe this "cover-up" went outside the SMSD. Last week I told you I was sure it DID. Now I'm sure it DIDN'T. (I mention this just to prove to you I'm an idiot, at least sometimes!)
The bottom line is, I'm almost certain now that I'm going to get a confession from Cunningham, and please don't publish anything about this case until I do.
You know, I wouldn't bother if I didn't believe that -- hmmm, fax line just rang again (2:06 pm, Sunday, June 25th, 2006) -- as I was saying, if I didn't believe there might be a working system of justice somewhere for me to use.
Sincerely,
Ace Hoffman
Carlsbad, CA
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June 26th, 2006 (follow-up)
Hi Logan,
It definitely was not a Glock-9 or a Charter Arms Bulldog Special, two guns I can recognize pretty easily.
I think it was a Smith and Wesson. It looked enormous -- like I'd need two hands to pull it from his holster.
Also, as to all the "fighter-pilot" stuff, other than that one comment from my flight instructor, which was admittedly vital, all that research probably mainly just helped me to get into C.'s MIND during the "engagement," or at least to think calmly, check my RPM gauge, check my hand on the stick, etc.. Knees were probably shaking like leaves, but those books told me that fighter pilots sometimes come home with the cockpit full of vomit -- and shaking like a leaf. So I didn't let it worry me. And I know the whole battle only lasts seconds. One pass. You win or you lose. He thought I was a MIG that night.
Seeing his vehicle and knowing its characteristics gave me a huge advantage, if I knew how to use it (I did). Little advantages add up.
Another important factor was undoubtedly the ability to "see" the exact moment in time and space when to make the final evasive maneuver -- If I chicken out and make it too soon, he can track it like he did all the other attempts, before the 3-second straight-in approach. Too late and someone would have written all our obituaries that night. The key was mountainbiking, plain-and-simple.
If you don't know the sport, you ride inches from death more or less constantly. If you don't believe me, I'll be happy to rent a tandem mountainbike and show you! I'll think it's perfectly safe and I'm riding well within my limits, but you, in the back -- unless you're used to it -- you'll have a heart attack thinking we're going to die -- this happens on EVERY switchback at Mt. Israel, for instance (and there's 14 of them in a row, for instance!)
Let me know if you're game. You seem to be saying I couldn't have done what I did against who I did it against. But I did it, just as I described, and the assailant was unquestionably -- and provably -- Cunningham.
Yours,
Ace