Hostage

I was working patrol as a training officer. My probationer wasn't working that day, so I was working with another senior officer. We were on routine patrol when we, along with out whole watch (about 20 officers), gets called to a restaurant for a briefing. When we get there, some guys in plain clothes are there wearing US Marshal badges. On a side not, I think that they have the most impressive badges in the country. Plain, yet impressive. The circle with the five point star in the center, United States on the top and Marshal on the bottom. Anyways, when they are in town, you know that something good, or bad will be coming our way.

We get briefed on this nice man that the Marshals are tracking. He has been on a killing spree, and is known to always carry a gun on him. The suspect has been located and is staying at a hotel in our area. The techniques that the Marshals utilize to track wanted persons is also very impressive. Obviously, I cannot talk about their methods, but know that if someone is to be found, it will be the Marshals to find them. They even made a couple of movies about them. The Fugitive with Harrison Ford and US Marshals with Tommy Lee Jones (I know, he was in both).

My partner and I, being the senior officers, got tasked with the stairwell, just adjacent to the suspects hotel room. He was on the first floor, in the front corner room. There are two windows facing our location. Both curtains are closed. My partner and I put on our ballistic helmets, but take off the riot control face shield. I deploy my shotgun, and my partner has his side arm. We get halfway up the first level staircase so we were about 10 feet off the ground, looking down at the suspects room.

We had only been there for about five minutes when we see the suspect walking in front of the hotel, and then see all of the plain clothes Marshals getting out of their cars to run after the suspect. The suspect, seeing the Marshals coming to arrest him, turns around and goes back into the hotel. We were told over the radio that he re-entered his room. Thirty seconds later, he appears at his window, opens it, pushes out the screen, and puts his leg out...

Here's my dilemma. This is a suspect that is known to shoot and kill people, and has done it with quite frequency. He is known to always carry a gun. I go into this situation knowing this, and also knowing the laws surrounding force, along with our department policies, which are more restrictive that the actual laws on the books. A fleeing felon, as it is also known, is one of the great gray areas in law enforcement. We have a felon, and if I don't stop him, he may have the opportunity to get into one of the local homes and take hostages, or kill someone as he is fleeing.

I also know that I have numerous other law enforcement partners around me that could also take him out, if necessary. There was no doubt in my mind that his crime spree would end, that day. But it was up to me and my partner who were on the front line that day. It was up to us to make the split second decision to stop him, or let him go.

By the way, I have never entered a day of work hoping to shoot at someone that day, but I always knew that it was a possibility... I yell, "stop, police". He looks over at me, with one foot still out the window, and yells F@#*. He then goes back inside the hotel room and closes the curtain and the window. About one minute later, he pulls the curtain back, and now has a large handgun in his left hand, his right arm around the torso of a woman, and the gun to her head. I start yelling, "drop the gun, drop the gun." He yells at me to back off, and I keep yelling at him to drop the gun. In hindsight, I remember hearing my partner on the radio, broadcasting to the other units that the suspect has taken a hostage, and that he is possibly barricading himself.

Here is my second dilemma. I have a shotgun, and he is holding a hostage. My shotgun will surely hit her more than it will hit him. I put the shotgun down and transition to my sidearm. I continue yelling at him to drop the gun. Here is another dilemma, as if I needed any more. The window was totally closed. This meant that, even if I had a shot, the bullet may not penetrate the window straight through at the angle to which I fired. I was running out of options.

Much to my surprise, our SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team is arriving in small groups. One SWAT officer comes next to me and I brief him on the situation. The SWAT officer then briefs the other SWAT officers by radio. The suspect, at this point has come in and out of our view several times. The SWAT officer told me that they were going to breach the door within a minute or so, to try to save the hostage.

I then radioed all of our people what SWAT was going to do. It was real quite in the room before we heard one gun shot. Right after that we heard SWAT making entry into the room. They found the suspect had shot himself, and left his girlfriend by his side, and alone. The suspect was taken to the hospital but died on the way there. His girlfriend was left with a lot of emotional trauma. I was left writing a report on everything that I had observed that day, and knowing that I came through a tough battle of nerves, and patience. I have had to draw my weapon numerous times throughout my career... Responding to robbery calls, stolen cars, and wanted felons, none were as frightening as having a hostage in between me, and him.