Qwik Fuel Convenience Store

3721 Pitkin Avenue: This week the boys from Rampart Division are called in to resolve an armed robbery and hostage situation at a shabby C-Store. There is only one entrance option provided - Side 2 Level 1 - however there are actually two different doors that you can use to make entry.

As with all missions I am running on Elite Mode, the weapons package applied to all are pepperball guns, Tasers, flash bangs, a door wedge, C2 and the Optiwand. The Element made entry through the back door where we spawned and cleared two rooms into the building.

After a door wedge was placed at the entrance leading into the storage room, I moved the Element back outside and past the restrooms to the doorway that led to the hallway between the offices and the shopping area. There was a suspect out there who did not engage us but ran inside the building. I had the Element cover the door while I used the wand on the two bathroom areas and cleared those.

Given the sharp tactical angles of the building, flash bangs were ordered for every entrance whether it was already open or not. Once we swept into the hallway, we moved into the shopping area and cleared the large cooler unit, taking several suspects and securing one hostage. I ordered a door wedge on the office door by the freezer and on the office door closest to the shopping area.

This smaller office contained two armed suspects and was a bit of a bear to clear, as when the Element moved into the backroom area behind the cashier counter, the door was opened and one of the officers took a shot from a suspect inside. I had to rush the room with the pepperball gun on full automatic in order to faze both suspects. One required a shock from my Taser gun.

The last room to clear - the last office (see YouTube video below) contained one armed suspect who was particularly resistant to the breach, bang and clear that we brought to bear against him, and he too required pepperball shots followed by a Taser chaser. The mission was completed when that clown was cuffed and we went into debriefing.

Other thoughts: This mission took me two attempts - the first being a complete failure as I lost several officers, the second having been won at 100% for the Chief Inspector rating. The mission itself is one of the more difficult ones from the original SWAT 4 to clear, but not as difficult as those from The Stetchkov Syndicate expansion pack.