Undercover police officers sometimes have to do a lot of things they may not be comfortable doing — including taking a life. GENERAL HOSPITAL’s Dominic Zamprogna takes aim at a vital issue for Dante.
Soap Opera Weekly: As an undercover operative, has Dante ever had to kill in the line of duty before?
Dominic Zamprogna: I made the choice as an actor that he has, but that’s never been actually spoken about. I don’t think he’d get that far undercover [without violence]. He’s been on dozens of cases with Ronnie, and with the stuff that I’ve looked into, there’s no way they’d get that deep and not have to at least shoot. So I made the decision for myself that he had shot someone before. I don’t go into the detail of whether or not he’s actually killed a guy.
Weekly: So maybe he shoots everybody in the leg?
Zamprogna: The biggest thing that people think is that cops don’t shoot to kill — the reality of it is, cops shoot to kill. If you’re firing a weapon in the first place, you’re not going to risk trying to hit a limb. You have to go for the kill-shot almost every time. You don’t shoot for the head, but you definitely shoot for the vitals.
Weekly: That makes sense; you don’t want to wound somebody and just make them mad!
Zamprogna: Well, it’s not just that. I’ve talked to a lot of cops about this. If you are in a situation where someone has provoked you to the point where you have to pull your gun and you are ready to fire it, the last thing you are going to do is trust that you can hit his knee, or hit his arm, or hit his shoulder. Because if you miss, then you are [in trouble]. It’s not even about making them mad; it’s like, you only get one shot. Your life is on the line. Do you want to live or do you want to die? Yeah, you want to be a sharpshooter, but in the moment, with adrenaline pumping and stuff going on, your hand’s shaking or not — you go for the vitals. That’s just what they do.
Weekly: So just winging a thug is Hollywood fiction?
Zamprogna: It’s kind of weird, because I thought that, too, that they go for the knee, go for the arm or something, just because they don’t want to kill them, but nine times out of 10, you’re not pulling a gun just to wound somebody. You’re pulling out a gun because you have no other choice.
