The homeowner told police the two men said they were police and claimed they were at the home to serve a warrant.
[The homeowner] became suspicious, because, you know, they have a ring camera too, and the suspects were saying they had a warrant, but it was just two people and they’re masked up and no police cars, no lights or anything like that," said Lt. Khan with HPD.
At some point, police said the men shot at the homeowner through the door, prompting the homeowner to return fire.
The homeowner was not hurt in the gunfire, but the two men were both hit and pronounced dead at the scene.
There’s different types of vest, and they’re rated to stop different types of bullet.
If these guys are just pretending to be cops, they may well have just grabbed the cheapest vests they could find that looked convincing.
And a rifle round could have just punched straight on through a vest only rated for pistol rounds.
Also most vests don’t cover the neck or sides of the body. Or the big arteries in the legs.
Also the vests could have been fake.
Honestly, if their goal was to imitate the appearance of cops, that seems likely. I imagine full kevlar is pretty expensive.
It depends. If you’re buying brand new, brand name stuff, then yeah, it can be pricey. But if you’re milsurp stuff, then it is not as expensive… but be warned, Kevlar absolutely degrades over time and a vest that is 6 or 9 years old may not be able to stop the same bullets it would have been able to when it was factory fresh or just a few years old.
BTW, you can buy ballistic armor that looks exactly like normal clothes, but those are expensive as all fucking hell. This hoodie can stop up to a .44 magnum, but it will set you back by more than 700$ (I am thinking of taxes + shipping costs on top of the actual hoodie).
My take is that it is very likely that they were prop vests, meaning they were just simple clothing and will do nothing to stop a bullet.
I think you can get a III-a vest for about $500. That’s not terribly expensive, but a criminal planning something like this may have been a little rushed and strapped for cash. It’s been a few years since I cared to even look, so prices may have gotten higher.
You can get a IIIA vest from a Chinese factory for about $50. If you’re worried about the quality, just buy two and shoot one!