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Unnerving police body cam video shows the moment police officers thwarted an armed hostage situation in San Diego, California.
In the early hours of April 8, a prowler broke into five different homes, and had failed attempts at burglaries at two other residences. His alleged getaway vehicle was reportedly a white minivan that had previously been reported stolen in a carjacking.
The homeowner of the fifth home burglarized contacted 911 around 2:20 a.m. to inform authorities that a man had broken into her home. She told the 911 dispatcher that the home intruder was nearly nude and “masturbating in the bathroom.”
Police arrived at the crime scene and made “verbal contact” with the homeowner’s elderly father – who was also at the residence during the break-in.
Suddenly, a loud bang rang out, followed by screams by a female. Police immediately smashed the sliding glass door of the rear of the home. With guns drawn, several cops entered the home.
As the police officers began to go up the stairs, the intruder emerged out of a room with a gun to the head of the 53-year-old homeowner.
Officers confronted the gunman and commanded, “Let me see your f***ing hands! Let me see your hands!”
In the video of the hostage situation shared by the San Diego Police Department, there were apparently 10 minutes where the home invader pointed the barrel of the gun towards the woman’s temple.
Police identify the gunman as 40-year-old parolee Demetrius Trussell. The police say that Trussell exposed himself and sexually battered the homeowner several times.
“We have a Mexican standoff,” Trussell told the police in the chilling body cam video.
When asked why this is a hostage situation by a police officer, Trussell responded, “Cause I don’t have no way out, so I gotta take a hostage with me.”
The cop replied, “No, no you don’t.”
The gunman told authorities that they’re “going to have to send a SWAT team.”
An officer asked what will happen then, and Trussell said, “I want you to back out … before I shoot her. I’m going to shoot her in the kneecap.”
The woman screamed, “No! No! Please, God. Please, God, no!”
Then a round was fired by Trussell, but the woman told police that the gun accidentally went off and she was unharmed.
During the standoff, an officer climbed to a rear balcony to protect the woman’s elderly father.
Meanwhile, another officer scaled a nearby roof to get a better vantage point of the hostage situation. Once in a position where the officer could see Trussell and the hostage through a window, the officer fired multiple shots at the gunman.
Trussell is startled by the gunfire and dropped his firearm. The woman quickly fled downstairs toward the officers.
In the dramatic footage, officers advanced towards Trussell who dropped to the floor and surrendered.
The woman, the suspect, and the police were unharmed during the shooting
Trussell was charged with 18 felonies, including suspicion of hot prowl burglary, kidnapping, false imprisonment with a hostage, negligent discharge of a firearm, possession of a stolen vehicle, indecent exposure, assault with the intent to commit a sex crime, sexual battery, multiple counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and a parole hold, according to Lt. Jud Campbell of the San Diego Police Department.
Deputy District Attorney Meghan Buckner said Trussell was on parole at the time of the break-ins. Trussell was convicted of a 2019 robbery in North Carolina and convicted of a 2018 hot prowl residential burglary in San Diego, according to the complaint.
Source: TheBlaze
