During the initial bank robbery, one of the bank robbers cocks the shotgun twice and neither time a round is ejected, revealing the gun was empty. It was later revealed that the gun thug holding it said before the robbery that it was loaded.
Several examples of law enforcement incompetence are depicted in the closing scenes. These begin with the NOPD officer that had already fired his shotgun into the vehicle not firing as the gun thug got out, allowing the gun thug to fire at the officer. Next, LaSalle took a shotgun into a situation where the gun thug had a hostage, negating the value of a shotgun (either a rifle or a handgun would be useful there). Finally, both Gregorio and Pride issued warnings to the gun thug versus shooting him, which was both tactically advantageous and legally authorized to do (fleeing felon that had committed forcible felonies). By issuing a warning, all this did was cause the gun thug to pull the hostage in closer, lessening the chance of Gregorio stopping him.