Deadly shootout ends after California officer’s ‘heroic’ actions 68%

By Daniel Farr69%

5/16/2026, 10:47:08 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 17 faulty reasoning types, including Biased Writer Voice, Availability Heuristic, and Anecdotal, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 41.7% saturation with 149 hits. Analysis detected 902 faulty-reasoning hits from 357 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 61.3% and a BS Rank of 68% (7,104 of 21,887 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 67.50% of the article peer group.

Newly released body camera footage captures the violent moment a Pasadena police officer was shot during a raging gun battle with an armed suspect accused of terrorizing the area after a shooting and alleged sexual assault near a Metro station. 
The chaos unfolded around 7:30 p.m. on March 2, after police were called to the Sierra Madre Villa Metro station, where the gunman shot a victim in the shoulder before taking off on foot. 
Moments later, Officer Bryan Vasquez spotted the suspect several blocks away and gave chase through the neighborhood. 
The newly released footage shows the encounter spiraling into a terrifying exchange of gunfire as shots exploded down the street. 
Nearby residents said they heard as many as 15 to 20 rounds fired during the barrage. 
Bullet holes were later found blasted into a brick wall. 
Despite being seriously wounded, Vasquez survived the firefight. 
The suspect, identified as 32-year-old Pasadena resident Malcolm Buchanan, died at the scene. 
Police also released an image Friday of the handgun investigators say Buchanan used during the deadly confrontation. 
Authorities later released cellphone footage captured by a witness that they believe shows Buchanan sexually assaulting a second victim before running from the area, adding another disturbing layer to the violent rampage. 
Buchanan’s grandmother previously told ABC7 that he struggled with mental health issues and may have been off his medication at the time. 
Pasadena Police Chief Gene Harris praised Vasquez for staying in the fight after being shot and relying on his training during the life-or-death encounter. 
“The officer’s actions in that moment I think would be considered heroic. 
It is always a tragedy anytime there is a loss of life… that is not what we get into the business for and speaking to the officer is certainly not what he got into the business for, but we understand it is always a risk and potential for this type of incident to occur,” Harris said. 
Harris said Vasquez, a five-year department veteran, has been released from the hospital but remains on leave as he recovers from severe injuries. 
The shooting remains under investigation. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 9.0%Daniel Farr: 3.8%California Post: 4.1%Confirmation Bias9.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 1.3%California Post: 1.4%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 27.5%Daniel Farr: 4.7%California Post: 4.2%Availability Heuristic27.5%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 1.1%California Post: 1.1%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.6%California Post: 0.8%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 1.4%Daniel Farr: 0.5%California Post: 2.2%Overconfidence Bias1.4%This article: 14.6%Daniel Farr: 12.8%California Post: 10.3%Framing Effect14.6%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 1.2%California Post: 0.9%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 15.7%Daniel Farr: 0.9%California Post: 0.6%Status Quo Bias15.7%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.1%California Post: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 2.2%Daniel Farr: 1.4%California Post: 2.5%Optimism Bias2.2%This article: 15.7%Daniel Farr: 1.4%California Post: 1.5%Pessimism Bias15.7%This article: 41.7%Daniel Farr: 17.4%California Post: 16.0%Negativity Bias41.7%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.9%California Post: 2.4%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 1.4%California Post: 1.5%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.2%California Post: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.9%California Post: 1.6%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.9%California Post: 1.1%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 12.3%Daniel Farr: 2.2%California Post: 3.1%Halo Effect12.3%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.5%California Post: 0.6%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.0%California Post: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 1.8%California Post: 1.6%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.4%California Post: 0.5%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.0%California Post: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 2.2%California Post: 2.6%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.2%California Post: 0.5%Straw Man0.0%This article: 15.7%Daniel Farr: 3.0%California Post: 4.2%Appeal to Authority15.7%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 1.5%California Post: 1.5%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.7%California Post: 0.9%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.0%California Post: 0.2%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 3.9%California Post: 5.5%Hasty Generalization0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.6%California Post: 0.7%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.5%California Post: 1.4%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 6.2%Daniel Farr: 8.2%California Post: 8.9%Appeal to Emotion6.2%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.6%California Post: 1.1%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 2.2%California Post: 2.7%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.1%California Post: 0.2%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.8%California Post: 0.8%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.1%California Post: 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.1%California Post: 0.2%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 19.6%Daniel Farr: 1.9%California Post: 3.6%Anecdotal19.6%This article: 15.7%Daniel Farr: 0.1%California Post: 0.0%No True Scotsman15.7%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 1.6%California Post: 2.0%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.0%California Post: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.1%California Post: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.0%California Post: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.1%California Post: 0.2%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.3%California Post: 0.4%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 6.2%Daniel Farr: 2.6%California Post: 3.2%Unattributed Quote6.2%This article: 3.4%Daniel Farr: 1.8%California Post: 2.1%Quote-first Misdirection3.4%This article: 39.2%Daniel Farr: 12.2%California Post: 13.1%Biased Writer Voice39.2%This article: 6.7%Daniel Farr: 1.6%California Post: 1.4%Indoctrination6.7%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.4%California Post: 0.4%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 3.8%California Post: 3.0%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Daniel Farr: 0.7%California Post: 6.0%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

357 words analyzed.

Speakers

1speaker32%attributed speech242writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 8 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 40 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 34 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 17 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 20 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 10 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 8 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 13 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 17 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 32 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 22 words • 100.0% coveragePasadena Police Chief Gene Harris • 24 words • 100.0% coveragePasadena Police Chief Gene Harris • 12 words • 100.0% coveragePasadena Police Chief Gene Harris • 56 words • 0.0% coveragePasadena Police Chief Gene Harris • 23 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 5 words • 0.0% coverage
80%flagged-word coverage
115 attributed words100% of attributed speech86% writer coverage
0%30.0%60.0%Biased Writer Voice-57.9 ptsWriter: 57.9%Pasadena Police Chief Gene Harris: 0.0%0.0%Indoctrination+20.9 ptsWriter: 0.0%Pasadena Police Chief Gene Harris: 20.9%20.9%Quote-first Misdirection+10.4 ptsWriter: 0.0%Pasadena Police Chief Gene Harris: 10.4%10.4%Unattributed Quote-9.1 ptsWriter: 9.1%Pasadena Police Chief Gene Harris: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.