Potential danger is part of the job

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Potential dangers are part of the job when law enforcement is called into action.

Paul Moskal said, "You don't know what's behind that door."

News 4 crime analyst Paul Moskal is a former FBI agent who has personally conducted dozens of raids like the one on Coit Street.

He says a lifetime of expertise and training can never fully prepare an FBI agent for the dangers of the job, "They have to be mature, clear thinking and hard working because the single most important decision any FBI agent will ever have to make in his or her life is whether or not to employ deadly force. And that's made instantaneously in these instances."

FBI agents conduct drug raids every day across the country. All are dangerous. Some are deadly.

Back in November, FBI agent Samuel Hicks was shot to death by a suspect during a raid in Pittsburgh.

In Buffalo this past summer, a Niagara County Sheriff's deputy shot and killed a man who pointed a gun at him during a drug raid.

Moskal says no matter how much the agents prepare, they just never know what they're going to encounter, "You're life is in jeopardy, just by being in that situation."

Friendly fire, though rare, is also a risk, but Moskal says it's one agents are willing to take, "You put your life in their hands. And I think if you'd ask any FBI SWAT team member if they were comfortable with any other SWAT team member, they would litterally tell you that they trust their lives with them. Because they do."