A brave officer rushed into a burning hotel room shortly after an explosive device went off in Kentucky, preventing what could have been a major disaster, according to police reports.
Officer Yeng Xiong potentially stopped further explosions by entering the room equipped with a fire extinguisher to douse a fire ignited by an unidentified device that exploded last Friday, authorities noted.
Louisville Metro Bomb Squad investigators found two other explosive devices during a sweep of the room, according to police.
The intense scene, recorded on body cam footage from Lyndon Police Chief Robert Schroder, depicts officers attempting to communicate with the suspect, 37-year-old Leonard Pitchford, as he stood behind his hotel door.
Pitchford refused to come out and nobody could gain access to the room since he had lashed shut with electrical wire wrapped around the hinge lock, police said.
Schroeder said officers were called to the Springhill Suites hotel about 10 miles east of downtown Louisville to help hotel staff convince Pitchford to leave his room just before 12:20 p.m., according to WHAS 11.
The body cam footage shows a hotel employee finally able to get the door open, but as he does an explosion goes off followed by Pitchford’s hysterical screams and the disorienting sound of the hotel’s fire alarm.
Schroder notices the fire and goes sprinting down the hallway screaming: “Fire extinguisher! Fire extinguisher!”
All the while hotel staff are frantically trying to evacuate the floor.
A staff member runs towards Schroder and hands him the extinguisher.
Meanwhile, Pitchford screams in agony and shouts that he can’t breathe.
Xiong takes the extinguisher from his chief and doesn’t hesitate as he runs into the room to put the fire out.
“I peeked around the side, saw a fire burning inside the room, ran down the hallway, and got a fire extinguisher from a staff member,” Chief Schroeder said. “Officer Yeng Xiong took the fire extinguisher, entered the room heroically, and put the fire out.”
“I can’t speak enough about the bravery of Officer Xiong going in there because, as the investigation turned out, there were additional devices in there,” the chief added.
An ATF bomb dog led investigators to Pitchford’s car in the hotel parking lot, authorities told WHAS 11.
Pitchford is charged with 43 counts of first-degree wanton endangerment and one count of use of a weapon of mass destruction, according to reports.
“I do know that the subject has had extensive contact with the Middletown Police Department, so, in my mind as chief of police, there is a significant danger to the community if he’s released,” Schroeder told WHAS 11.
The ATF and the Louisville Arson Bureau are conducting separate investigations, according to local reports. There were no injuries from the incident.
Pitchford’s bond is set at $200,000 and his next court appearance is scheduled for June 30.
