14 DAY TRIAL // CCTV cameras in a Walmart store in Oklahoma have captured the moment when a 37-year-old man holds a knife to a toddler's stomach in a bid to settle an issue with a police officer.
According to WPEC TV, the man walked up to the child's mother on June 17 at a Midwest City Walmart. She was shopping with her 12-year-old daughter who was holding the baby when the mom turned around for a minute.
In instants, Sammie Wallace took the 2-year-old girl hostage, threatening to kill her unless the mother calls the police and asks for a specific officer.
"You've got the ingredients of a two and a half year old helpless victim, you've got a mother who has to standby helplessly and watch as her daughter is being held by a mental patient with a knife, and you have our officers responding," Midwest City Police Chief Brandon Clabes describes.
Before police arrived, pastor Terry Parker who witnessed the scene placed his shopping cart near the suspect, blocking him in so that he couldn't make an escape.
"If that gentleman was to come my direction he would have to go through me or my cart to do that," Parker recalls.
The store was evacuated and two officers tried to negotiate with him. In about 30 minutes, he resorted to giving them an ultimatum.
"During negotiations they try all kinds of cues. [...] We try to talk about his family, his job, how the child is not afraid of him," Clabes clarifies.
He told the officers that he was about to kill the girl in 60 seconds. As he started the countdown, he was shot and killed.
"We waited until the last second in our opinion to use deadly force. […] When he took that shot he made sure he was at point blank range to make sure there was no ability to harm that child," Clabes says.
