Did Alonzo intentionally miss Jeff's vest in Training Day? [closed]

Referring to the scene where they raid Roger's house and have to fake the bust. Alonzo wants it to look like Jeff was shot twice upon entering the house and done arguably at point blank range. What troubles me to this day was the second shot. Everything in the scene has me believe he missed the bulletproof vest intentionally. He seemed so nonchalant and sarcastically surprised of it all. Don't get me wrong I know Lonzo's a psychopath but why not admit to the fact that you missed purposely unless he had a vendetta against Jeff, which seemed highly unlikely?

As quoted:

Denzel: What's the matter? Did one go through.

Mark: Yeah man. You shot em.

Jeff: You f**kin shot me!

Jeff's tone kinda makes it seem as if it was intentional. I'm sure anyone who just got shot would've been pissed but the even if it did go through, it looked like it was done on the side. An area that doesn't have as much support as the chest or torso.

plot-explanation training-day

Best Answer

The full chain of conversation goes as:

Alonzo : What's the matter, one go through?

Tim : Yeah, you shot him.

Jeff : You fucking shot me, man!

Alonzo : Don't worry about it. You'll get a medal.

Jeff : Get me an ambulance!

Alonzo : Hey, hey, hey. You wanna go to jail or you wanna go home? Let me quarterback this thing. Mark, Paul, you kicked the door down. Jeff's the first one through. Roger shoots Jeff twice, bang bang. Our new guy, Hoyt, he's in second. Drops Roger with some fine shotgun work. Now who shot Roger?

Mark : New guy, came in spraying.

Alonzo : Who shot Roger?

Paul : Boot did it.

Alonzo : What did you guys see?

Tim : Hoyt blasted him.

Jeff : Hey, fuck Hoyt, all right? Ambulance time!

Alonzo : Done. Paul, call 'em up.

Paul : 11-49-98 Shots fired. Officer down. Repeat. Officer down. 5951 Baxter Street.

There’s too little backstory to the gang given to say definitively that it wasn’t on purpose, though certainly the movie establishes he’d have no problem doing so if somebody was a problem for him.

That said, it seems built to show his disregard for others, not some intent to kill off Jeff. He very clearly is an imperfect man, and overconfident, which brings his downfall. So him just making a mistake (And people really underestimate how hard shooting can be, even within a few feet an untrained shooter could completely miss, and someone not particularly caring could easily miss by a foot, despite training). That adds to the viewer’s understanding of Alonzo as reckless and not particularly concerned about his guys’ health. Hence, he gets the story straight and covers his own behind before asking Paul to radio in.

It’d be hard to completely rule it out, however that would imply some subplot between the two, and if Alonzo had any reason, a failed attempt would create a liability in Jeff. It would seem most likely he’d go finish the job if that was what he intended.

The whole movie is intended to have a gritty realism to it, so a guy making a random mistake also fits in with that, only in Hollywood do gunfights go so well for the good guys so often. I think the salient part the viewer is meant to take away is just his reaction, which really does quite a job of summing up his character when you think about it.