l) criminals are everywhere, but so are cameras, watching their every move. >> i ripped his hat off, pulled the mask off his face. >> recording antics that will stun you. >> there were four guys in here. >> catching crimes that range from cold-blooded -- >> it was very brutal. >> to ridiculous. >> the subject was described as being dressed like a tree. >> they had garbage bags on their heads. they had these eyeholes torn out.

in this hour, "caught an camera: thieves and thugs." whether a a /* thief wearing a mask threatening to kill you, that is terrifying. but when a thief unexpectedly traps himself in the very place he planned to burglarize, that could be entertaining. i'm contessa brewer. welcome to "caught on camera." surveillance cameras are everywhere. in this hour, we'll show you criminals they've captured in the act. some of what you see may leave you stunned, like the tough grandmother you're about to meet who fends off a violent attacker in a hotel lobby. this hotel clerk knew working the night shift might mean dealing with some strange characters. >> i had an elderly gentleman try to convince me the invisible mafia was after him. >> but she wasn't prepared to wrestle thieves with machete-sized knives. a harrowing experience caught on camera.

kent, washington. tamarine jones is working the night shift at the days inn. one of the shuttle drivers dropped off a purse that a guest left in his van. >> i went to look up her room number. not more than 30 seconds later, someone said excuse me. can you tell me where a certain room is? i told him, it's on the second floor all the way down. then i went back to the phone, looked back down at the phone, dialed the room number and he was standing on the other side of the counter and he said give it to me. i said, you ain't getting it. it doesn't belong to me, it's not my property, i can't give it to him. so i told him, no, he can't have it. >> frustrated that she isn't scared into giving him the purse, he jumps over the counter and launches at her wielding a huge butcher knife. >> that shocked the heck out of me when he jumped that counter because it comes up to chest level when you're standing next to it. >> tamarine recovers quickly and instantly comes up with her own plan. >> i started backing up into our

back office area and threw the purse all the way into the kitchen. then i came back out towards him force flee and tried to grab the phone to dial 911, because he wasn't going to get the purts, he wasn't going to get near me, he wasn't going to do nothing. then i remembered the video camera was right behind me. he was in the perfect line of sight. the only thing i could think of was get his face on camera. i ripped his hat off and pulled the mask off his face. >> not only does she unmask him, she also unmasks her inner forensic scientist. >> and then i went, wait a minute, i need dna. i don't know why that sounds funny. but i've watched every single "csi" series and i'm thinking, scratch his face and as i did, he turned and tried to bite me. and i thought, huh-uh, not getting near the teeth, there could be a disease, germs. he put me into a headlock and tried to push me down and stabbed me in the thigh.

it didn't feel like a stab. it felt like he punched me hard with the handle of it because when he pulled it out, there was no blood. that made me mad. >> the struggle intensifies but this gutsy grandma refuses to surrender and starts whaling on him with the phone. >> somehow i had the phone in my hand and i started hitting him as hard as i could on the head with the phone. the whole time i'm yelling and screaming for him to get away, for someone to help me. there has to be someone in the hotel that could hear me screaming. i turned around to go for the phone again, the dial and i felt him punch me in the back. and i started having a hard time breathing. so i thought, he broke a rib, it punctured my lung. now i'm really ticked off. >> the angrier tamarine gets, the more courageous she becomes, lying to her attacker that she can't open the register, that she doesn't have the key. >> it was like instinct took over. but i've never, ever done anything like that in my entire life.

i've got four children, a great fiance, a wonderful mom and dad, a sister that we're finally communicating again and i've got my beautiful granddaughter. that's what i fought for. >> eventually the thief realizes the only thing he's leaving this hotel with is a good fight and he darts out. >> as soon as he started to walk away from me after he was ready to leave, he puts his hat back on, covers his face back up and walks out the front door. i'm going, idiot, i just caught you on camera. you don't think i'm not going to see your face again? >> her hard-fought victory leaves her bleeding profusely. she has three stab wounds in her back, her thigh and her face. she's struggling to call 911 when a hotel guest comes to her rescue. police and paramedics rush to the scene. >> people can say, well, i would never, ever do that. but you never know until it's in your face.

i just happened to choose to fight, and i did. i fought as hard as i could and for as long as i could. and it must have been enough because he had left. >> while tamarine's in the hospital recuperating with her family around her, the video is released to the media. >> the first thing out of my mouth is, i'm sorry. and my mom goes, don't you ever apologize to me again for fighting for your life. and everyone else said the same thing. he tried to kill me. he tried to take me away from my family, from my friends. he tried to take my life. >> i've done this job for 18 years. i'm never surprised. i often wonder why sometimes people don't fight. part of me said, you know, way to go. with your efforts, i'm glad you're not dead. i'm glad you're able to survive, but way to go because this case is going to be solved. >> despite the camera and the

dna she gets, two months go by and still no arrests are made. in the meantime, tamarine has to return to work. >> my first night there, i was terrified and i was nervous because he was still out there and i had that feeling that he was watching me. but you've got to go on. i just turned around, went back inside and just kept working. i've got four kids, a grand baby. i've got bills. i have to work. and at my age, it's getting harder and harder to find a job. >> finally a break in the case comes from an unlikely source. >> while i was called at home that following monday by a detective that works for us and he said he had got a call from our city jail where an inmate had said they knew who he was. they had seen him on the news while staying at the jail. >> the information's correct and it turns out the attacker had been out of jail only a few weeks before he tried to rob the days inn. >> his name's shannon hill. prior to this, he had been

incarcerated for 16 years for a similar type incident where he robbed somebody. so there wasn't a lot of history on him because he had been gone for 16 years. >> and he'll return to prison. hill is convicted of attempted robbery in the first degree and is sentenced to ten years in state prison. the detective was certain without tamarine's smarts and courage, this case would not have been solved so quickly or perhaps at all. >> the only way we were probably ever going to catch him is that the cameras caught who he was. to watch her, you can see when watching the videotape that that was her purpose, to fight him off and to get that mask off him so he could be seen. >> she still wonders if the woman whose purse she fought for will ever truly know what she went through to save it. >> i don't know if she ever did or not. but i saved it for her and she got it the next day because she checked out the next day. she was only there for one night.

coming up next, "caught on camera," a tree walks into a bank and it's not the beginning of a bad joke. >> there were people in front of him and there were people behind him, but no one in those images appeared to think that anything unusual was going on. and later, a thief's worst nightmare, breaking into a store that sells security cameras. >> we have cameras in the corners, cameras back in the corners and then cameras in the back rooms here. "caught on camera: thieves and thugs." him and there were people behind

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yyoçowoóñwóoños>uówwvooññ?ññówóçañçózwí÷ññwóówñó@ñ it's not every day sergeant ernie goodno gets a call about a heist quite like this one. >> the subject was described as being dressed like a tree. i think i was sipping coffee and i almost spit it out. >> manchester, new hampshire, citizens bank reports a robbery just a few minutes after it eaches, and it's caught on camera. the suspect is reportedly wearing an unusual disguise. >> all i could picture was like a tree outfit, a foam outfit like you'd see in a christmas play. that's an odd disguise for a bank robbery. i immediately went out with my crew of detectives and we responded to the scene to see what was going on. >> and what other location but the elm street branch would a tree find the most fitting to burglarize? when the police arrive on the scene, witnesses confirm the man in question is indeed of a leafy

persuasion. >> basically what he did is he took sticks and branches or anything that had leaves on it and duct taped them on his head, his chest, the trunk or torso area of his body, his arms, his legs and probably six to eight inches apart at different levels. so then the leaves would hang and fill in the gaps. >> when local law enforcement watched the video, the consensus is the disguise is unusually bizarre, even silly. but surprisingly, pretty effective. >> in this particular case, once again, a lot of people say that they think it's funny and this guy wasn't that smart. i disagree with them. the fact that it's so eccentric is other people in the bank really couldn't give -- if you showed them a picture, i don't know that they would be able to describe him because they were concentrating on the leaves. >> not only that, his disguise fails to create alarm. in fact, people barely notice him.

at 9:00 a.m., he walks in the front door, undisturbed. he waits in line, then demands money from a teller and takes off to the parking lot with his loot. the whole ordeal takes fewer than five minutes. >> there were people in front of him and people behind him, but no one in those images appeared to think anything unusual was going on. for me as a prosecutor, maybe it's because i primarily deal with bank robbers. if i would go into a bank and see someone with leaves duct taped to their head with gray duct tape, i don't think i'd want to stick around in that bank. >> the people in line aren't distressed by the tree among them. but someone working at the bank is. >> the bank teller put in a dye pack. when you exit the bank, an electronic device activates the pack and explodes on the suspect as he was leaving the bank, so he dropped the entire bag of money in the parking lot. >> shortly after the videotape

is released to the local media, an anonymous tip comes in and the police are table to track down the thief just 11 hours after the robbery. >> when i banged on the door, i could hear a voice from the inside saying, what do you want? so i said, hey, jim, i want to talk to you. didn't tell him why. just said, jim, i want to talk to you. he cracked open the door, looked at me. obviously, he knew it was a police officer. let out a big sigh of relief and said, i've been expecting you. >> according to law enforcement, the robber, james coldwell, said he was down on his luck. he lost his job, his marriage had ended recently and he was dealing with some alcohol issues. >> he said he thought he would feel this huge adrenaline rush when doing this robbery. but he said he actually just felt ashamed. >> turns out, his robbery attempt is high-risk for low return. >> i think they keep very low amounts accessible to the tellers, for that particular reason, to discourage people from robbing the bank.

>> although it all seems like a strange and pathetic comedy of errors, sergeant goodno says something other than the ridiculous branches and leaves struck him about coldwell. >> he maintained a level of calmness which actually i was looking at -- it wasn't like hurried and rushed. that tells me what kind of person am i looking at here? it's someone that's very cool under pressure. >> apparently, coldwell put some forethought into this tree disguise. >> he comes from a military background where he served in the special forces of the army. part of his training would be -- they would put him on an island with nothing and he'd have to make and fend for himself and try to infiltrate another military squad on that island. if he had just placed a couple of more branches with leaves on the sides, we never would have got him. >> james coldwell pleads guilty and is sentenced to 28 months at the federal prison in otisville, new york. seems like this tree robber

scheme was rooted in failure. this thug may be an embarrassment to his family but his robbery attempt provides a computer store the best free advertising it could ever want. >> we are living proof that it works. >> boise, idaho. 21-year-old allen darnell has a brilliant idea. rob a computer store that specialsizes in security cameras. >> we sell a lot of different types of cameras here. but we use a small camera system that's easy to set up. >> about midnight after hanging out at this pool hall next door to computer central, darnell smashes the door with a large rock. 12 wouldn't you know it, the alarm goes off. >> most of the time, the sound and the sirens, those kind of things will scare the suspect off. this guy stuck around. >> undeterred, darnell enters the store without even disguising himself. but then he decides to cover up,

the back of his head. >> we have cameras in the corners, cameras back in the back in the corners and cameras in the back rooms here and all over the store. like five or six different areas, we have cameras besides the corners too. we move them around a lot so they're hidden. >> he checks out the back of the store first. >> we had a bunch of pcs back there. but these are big and you can't get them out of here easily. >> he also pockets $250 from the register and gives the police an early mug shot. >> we had a camera set up that was called the robot. it was like a contraption, it's hard to tell what it is. he was probably checking it out to see if he could steal it. he should have stole it. he could have been better off. >> while this is all going on, the alarm company contacts computer central and an employee at the pool hall next door comes to check out what's happening. when he gets there, he finds the burglar hanging around the outside of the store. >> the perpetrator asked him,

let's go in, let's go in. i didn't break the glass but let's go in. kept coaxing him. >> after playing it cool, not letting on who he is, something amazing happened. >> our employee said, let me have your id. >> the suspect gave the guy his real i.d. card and actually grabbed it away from him and took off running. >> sergeant toland from the boise police department arrives on the scene and the employee gives him the burglar's information. other witnesses give hill information about the burglar's escape route. >> they said he was last seen eastbound from the location. i was looking off that way in the distance and i saw a man dive into the grass and bushes in that area. >> toland orders darnell to stop running but he doesn't. and now the chase is on. >> i was chasing after the suspect here through the yard. we both fell down. i was attempting to pepper spray him. at one point i finally did pepper spray him successfully. we ended up over here by the

front door, basically, at which time he was finally taken into custody and taken to the ground. >> he initially denies everything. but allen darnell eventually pleads guilty to burglary charges and is given five years probation. coming up next, a robbery almost too silly to be believed. >> the girl i was training looks over and asks me, is this for real? and i said, yes, this is real, we're really getting robbed. and later, in some cases, persistence pays off, but not for this guy. >> all the damage he made, we thought it would be at least four guys in here. it was amazing how one guy could make all the damage. word has it, the trash bag bble from the financial crisis. we started to lay a new foundation for stronger, more durable economic growth.

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jenny gibson, a waitress at jolly pirate donut shop, starts off her night shift as she always does. >> my shift starts at 10:00 at night. i come in and by that time usually the baker has the cake donuts made and i have to chocolate frost them icing and powdered sugar and all of that on them. that went smoothly. everything was fine. >> the baker for the evening is her sister, sammy. they soon notice strange things happening. >> about 3:00 is when things started getting weird. a strange car kept pulling into the parking lot and almost hit a customer. >> he come in like every hour. when we went out at 5:00, jenny said a guy come out from behind the dumpster and walked across the parking lot. he had gloves on, and he would not talk to us. most people walking in the parking lot usually say hi so us. but him, he wouldn't. >> nervous about the man's behavior, the sisters start taking precautions.

>> i had been taking money out of the register and hiding it all night long. i had put it in a different spot so that there was only like $35 in my register throughout the night. you notice things a little bit more than most people would because it is the night shift. the weirdness was going on so much, it was just too much of it. >> and just as jenny is about to change shifts with the morning workers, her fears are realized. >> we looked up and there they come running across the front of the window, two men, they come running in, yelling for us to get on the floor, to get down, that they would shoot. we had one customer who refused to get on the floor. i'm laying there trying to will him to get on the floor or something. >> but something seems a little unusual about their disguise. >> so the garbage bags and the eyeholes were ridiculous. they had these eyeholes torn out, no nose or mouth holes and

they're ripping the lottery box off and the register, they're grabbing it and yanking on it. it was like -- it seems like it took forever. the girl i was training looks over and asks me, is this for real? so i had to, yes, this is real. we're really getting robbed. so i was laying there thinking about my kids and my husband and worrying about whether they're going to come behind the counter. they're yelling the whole time, stay on the floor, to keep quiet. >> while jenny is lying on the floor, her sister is watching the whole robbery happen on the monitor in the back of the shop. she's terrified for her sister. >> i seen them come in with the bags on their heads. it does not register for a few minutes until finally i noticed that his arms are all -- he's pointing. i couldn't tell if he had a gun or not. >> sammy screams for the night manager who's in the back as well and they call police.

>> i said, they're being robbed and i'm surprised they didn't hear me out front holler that. because it was loud. i tried to get out the front door. he held his arms up and wouldn't let me out the front door. >> i did not want sammy to come out front. i did not need my sister out there. she was safe, as far as i was concerned. as long as they didn't come behind that counter, she was safe. that's one reason i kept looking over my shoulder trying to make sure they weren't coming behind the counter. >> helpless, as they wait for the police to arrive, sammy's anxiety grows. >> i was thinking of what they could do to jenny and the other waitress that was out there. and then the gentleman, they kept telling him to get down and he would not get down at all. >> finally after a few minutes, the thieves storm out with the lottery tickets and the register. >> we went out front and made sure everybody was okay. he grabbed jenny and held her and we made sure the other waitress was okay. because that was her first robbery. she'd only been here like two weeks. we made sure the gentleman was okay.

which he left really quick. >> the police arrive on the scene and jenny and sammy give their account of what happened that evening. jenny remembers something strange about one of her customers that night. >> about 5:30 a man come in and asked for the price of a donut. i told him it was 81 cents. he said he didn't have enough money. patted his pockets, thank you for your time and he turned around and left. he looked to be either homeless or like he had been working all night. i wasn't sure if he was going to become a regular customer or if he was going to become a problem. you check these people out. >> as investigators review the security tape, everybody sees the man jenny remembers as being a little shady. he's actually the man that held up the store. >> it doesn't take much to you know, go back and rewind the footage of the camera, and we're looking dead at them. >> even more ridiculous is how easy it is to find the men in this small west virginia town, where pretty much everybody

knows one another. one of the detectives in the town knows the men involved. >> one of the detectives here in our office had been around for 30 plus years, and you just about run over every criminal that's come and gone. and he actually recognized him from arresting him on a prior occasion a few years before. and that allowed us to quickly further that investigation. >> maybe the most shocking of all is that this robbery isn't just a family affair for jenny and sammy. these two are related as well. in fact, they're actually father and son. >> this is my 33rd year in law enforcement, and it's the only occasion that i can recall in regards to an act of this nature where both of them participated in a robbery like this actually together. you may have a case to where property's stolen and may go back to a relative. but nothing like this, this was different, at least for this

area. >> the father and son team don't have weapons on them when they storm the jolly pirate and they're drunk when they carry out the robbery. the dad blames the son. the son blames the dad. and still nobody knows why they did it. charges have been brought against them for second-degree robbery, destruction of property and larceny. a grand jury is expected to hear the case. and a word to the wise -- if you're planning to rob a store in huntington, west virginia, you better think twice. >> you're going to get caught, somebody's going to know you, somebody's going to see you. coming up next, an 85-year-old woman is robbed in an elevator. cameras record the brutal attack. and later, a bank security camera captures a cold-blooded murder. but will the video lead to the capture of the killers? >> the surveillance camera was located up above my head looking straight down on the night deposit box which captured the whole crime.

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ally bank. your money needs an ally. three people are dead and at least 24 others are injured after a bus crash in annapolis. many were teenagers from a local baptist church. they were reportedly returning from a summer camp. and a groom-to-be has been charged with manslaughter after a boating accident on new york's hudson river. he was driving the boat and now in critical condition. his fiance and best man were also onboard. the woman's body was found earlier today. the best man is still missing. back to "caught on camera." welcome back to "caught on camera." i'm contessa brewer. some of the videos we've shown

so far in this hour might have made you laugh. the criminals' approach seemed so silly. but the video you're about to see is anything but funny. an attacker traps an 85-year-old woman in an elevator, and she's left fighting for her life. all lillian france wanted to do was pay a visit to her niece. but what she got instead was an elevator ride from hell. and it was all caught on camera. brooklyn, new york. the senior community is not aware of a string of vicious muggings targeting the elderly. so far, it hasn't hit the media. >> we had absolutely no idea. my aunt would have definitely been a lot more cautious. >> a very independent and unknowing lillian france, an 85-year-old woman from the area, is planning to surprise her niece with a visit. >> she lives about a mile from me. she occasionally makes surprise

visits. and that day, unfortunately, she decided to do so. >> before she arrived at her niece's house, she makes a few stops in the neighborhood, although she says she was feeling uneasy on this day from the get-go. >> she woke up with like a heavy feeling, as if something was going to happen. >> france goes against her instincts and makes a stop at this bank to withdraw money to give to her grandnieces who are in from out of town. as she becomes more comfortable walking around that summer afternoon, her fears dissipate. she has no idea someone is watching her every move. >> he waited while she went into the drugstore. he waited while she went into the supermarket. he waited while she went into the post office.

>> at 5:00 p.m., france finally arrives at her niece's apartment and buzzes for her. claire is now at home cooking in the kitchen and doesn't hear the buzzer. but her aunt is let into the building by someone else who lives there. the man following her in doesn't live there. he has no intention of ever setting foot in an apartment as we will soon see. within seconds, he has france trapped alone with him in the elevator. he thinks no one can see him. but this 24-hour security camera is rolling the whole time. >> he walks up the stairs and prepares himself, calls the elevator, waits for her to come, gets in the elevator with her, talks to her, makes her feel comfortable. asks her what floor she's going to. pushes the elevator. he's very calculating about the whole thing. >> as the fifth floor approaches and france tries to walk out of the elevator, the man she's

sharing the elevator with grabs her from behind and violently chokes her. he then steals her bag filled with the money she just withdrew from the bank to give as a present and he steals her cane. then he darts out of the building. france's niece, claire, has no idea any of this is happening right next to her apartment. >> the elevator is just steps away from my door, literally. this is the elevator and to know she was so close to safety. >> she lays there for several minutes unconscious and then comes to. she struggles to exit the elevator and then finally makes it out. a group of teenagers sees france struggling and help her to her niece's apartment. >> my first instinct was -- or my first thought was that she had a nervous breakdown and someone found her and brought her to me.

she had one sneaker and sock in her hand. her wig, she did not have her wig on. her eyes were bloodshot red. >> claire finds out her aunt has been robbed and calls the police right away but finds out they're already there. the building superintendent saw it all happen on his monitor and he called the police. the video is released to the media to help find the perpetrator. a break in the case comes when detective matthew walker from the nypd recognizes the perpetrator's style of attack, watching it on the news. >> when i observed the video and saw him choking the old lady from behind, the elderly woman, i realized that it was very similar. >> this guy got out of prison on may 7, i believe, from an attack that this detective had put him away for in 2002 in the same area in brooklyn, same kind of attack on apparently two

muggings of two women, one of whom i talked to who was still terrified and it had been since 2002. so it had been six years. still terrified, completely terrified. >> lillian france makes it out of the elevator with only minor physical injuries. but like a lot of the other victims he attacked, she's robbed of a lot more than just money. >> she was vibrant, full of life, really truly the head of the family. before we did not look at her an elderly person. she was just our aunt. and now she's totally dependent for everything. >> seeing lillian france attacked so viciously tugs on the heartstrings of many who saw the video, and an outpouring of support surrounds this case. >> it got so much press because lillian france is 85 years old. what he did to her was caught on camera. you could see him strangling her from behind. it was really violent. it was really mean.

i think that everybody's got a grandmother. everybody can relate. and even if you don't have a grandmother anymore, you certainly know how fragile older people can be. and it was brutal. it was very brutal. >> in fact, this man, richard, from nearby queens, buys france a new cane and a youth organization from crown heights goes door to door raising money to replace the $900 that's stolen. >> they were horrified, and they wanted to do something good to show my aunt that there are still good young people out there. >> france is recovering from her attack but still struggles to forget what happened to her. cornelius absent, the accused attacker, pleads not guilty to the lillian france mugging. he later sends her an apology letter saying he did it because of drugs. the police suspect that absent is the man responsible for a string of similar attacks in the area.

he's convicted of five muggings including lillian france's, and his sentence is 17 years in prison. lillian france knows there's video of her attack, but she has no plans to see it. coming up next, imagine what it feels like to be this guy. >> when i saw him in the back of the police car, he kept saying, i'm hurt, i'm hurt. and to again with, i felt sorry for him because i thought he was in pain.

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?[??o?w6[?÷??ñ?ñw?ñoygççç?ówo?noo?exw?woñyóñçnçígo;vçñ the criminal caught on camera in this surveillance video gives a brand-new meaning to the term break-in. welcome to ft. worth, texas, home to paul's liquor store and quite possibly the most absurd

break-in you'll ever see. at about 1:15 in the morning, larry bynum strolls around to the back of paul's to break into the store through a vent hood on the roof. first he has to scale the wall to get him to his point of entry, which is giving him some trouble. after about ten minutes of unsuccessful attempts, he gives the roof one last try and makes it. >> there was a vent hood because when we purchased this building, this building was a restaurant. and we didn't cover the vent. that's how he got in. >> within a few seconds of him climbing up the roof and down the vent shaft, the insulation from the ceiling inside starts to give way. and so does the burglar. >> his hat got in first and was laying there for five minutes. that's what saved his life, i think.

those lights fell to the floor first, and then his hand got into those. and he fell right here. >> once he comes to, his shopping extravaganza begins. a few bumps and bruises don't derail his focus. >> and he got a shopping cart and tried to get all the expensive liquor in. he just put some bottles in. >> he also makes his way over to the cash register, which has no money in it. but there are a plethora of lottery tickets. >> they think so simple. they think so easy way, you just get them out and scratch and luckily you win. but we just have to call the texas lottery, and they will put a stop. and if you happen to play the stolen ticket, you're in big trouble anywhere in the state. you're not dealing with us. >> bynum has been in the store for 25 minutes, completely uninterrupted. he cut the phone line and the

alarm, and there's not much left for him to do but load up and head out. but just like his entry into the store, his exit won't be smooth. the front door is not only locked from the outside but chain locked from the inside. >> the unbelievable to me is that -- this is a liquor store. with our inventory in here, can you believe that we would make it easy for you to get in and out? >> bynum seems confused, so he takes a seat here on the keg and thinks for a moment. he tries several methods to pry the bulletproof door open. >> the more he tries, the worse that he couldn't get out. no matter how he tried. this is the actual bottle -- the actual mix that he threw at the door. so angry he couldn't get out. >> he has to go out the same way he came in. but for some reason, he chooses a different spot to go out. and that doesn't go very well either, nor does his theory that

nobody's watching. >> across from us is a grocery store, and they're open 24/7. the worker is also one of our customers, too. he saw something in here, some people in here moving or something. so that's why he called 911. he called police. and that's how police knew. and police called the alarm company. the alarm company called us. >> after an hour and a half of completely destroying the store and possibly all of his internal organs, bynum's fate is sealed. he can't get out. he has to wait for the police to arrive on the scene to let him out. the owners arrive on the scene around 3:00 a.m. and are horrified at what they see. so much booze spilled, you could practically get drunk off the fumes. >> there was a river of liquor in here. police said because of all the damage he made, they thought it would be four at least four

guys in here, that could have made all the mess in here. and after they saw the video and everything, it's only one. when i saw him in the back of the police car, he kept saying, i'm hurt, i'm hurt, i'm hurt. and to begin with i felt sorry for him because he was in pain. >> but in the end, they think he got something good out of it -- besides a nice buzz. >> he learned the hard way because i've been here almost 30 years in this country. there's no shortcut. you have to work for it. >> bynum causes almost $10,000 worth of damage. it takes a month of cleaning to get the store back in shape. he's convicted of burglary of a building and is sentenced to one year in jail. coming up next, a violent murder captured on camera. >> when i saw it, i just wanted to see him. i didn't look at the murderers. i didn't look at any of that. i was trying to see phillip.

[ brent ] this guy's a pro, herbie. [ herbie ] there's no doubt about it brent, a real gate keeper. here's kevin the new boyfriend. lamb to the slaughter. that's right brent. mom's baked cookies but he'll be lucky to make it inside. and here's the play. oh dad did not see this coming. [ crowd cheering ] now if kevin can just seize the opportunity. it's looking good, herbie. he's seen it. it's all over. nothing but daylight. yes i'd love a cookie. [ male announcer ] make a powerful first impression. the all-new nissan sentra. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] if you had a dollar, for every dollar car insurance companies say they'll save you by switching, you'd have like a ton of dollars. but how're they saving you those dollars? a lot of companies might answer "um" or "no comment." then there's esurance. born online, raised by technology and majors in efficiency. so whatever they save you save. hassle, time, paperwork hair-tearing out and yes, especially dollars. esurance. now backed by allstate. click or

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a cold-blooded murder caught on camera. the victim is phillip leon washington, a 50-year-old money courier. he's murdered at the state bank and trust in dallas, texas, just as he's about to make his nightly deposit. >> they've taken someone's father, someone's husband, someone's brother.

it was senseless. they didn't have to take his life. >> surveillance cameras captured the chilling incident. but there are few clues about the perpetrators. >> it's rare to actually capture a murder on video. and it's been extremely frustrating in the fact that we have the murder on video, and yet we haven't been able to solve the case yet. the problem is, the suspects are masked so one cannot identify a suspect from the video. as a result, the case remains unsolved. >> as a money courier, phillip's responsible for picking up money from various nightclubs throughout the dallas/ft. worth area and dropping off their nightly deposits. >> his normal routine was to leave about 2:30 a.m. and head off to the first club, whichever

one was ready. and he would go pick up the day's money, as far as work was concerned. >> he's aware it's potentially a dangerous job. and he has a background in law enforcement. so phillip always takes several precautions. he never tells anyone what he does for a living. he always changes up his routine at which clubs and banks he goes to and at what time. >> if a person knew that, they were close to phillip. >> even after ten years of running his own money courier business with no major problems, his wife, barbara, is still nervous whenever he goes out. >> i was on him about stopping it. i was saying, you're getting too old, you need to be at home. i don't like you having to leave out at 2:00 in the morning, get home at daybreak. you should be at home in the bed sleeping. >> when he doesn't come home at his usual time, she's worried but tries to stay calm. an hour later when a phone call comes from the hospital,

barbara's worst fears are realized. >> i said, is he all right? and she says, we'll talk to you -- we can't give you any information over the phone, we'll talk to you when you get here, get here as soon as you can. >> barbara and one of their daughters arrive at the hospital and receive the news, phillip has been murdered. >> in my mind, i thought accident. and she said, i'm sorry. and so at that point, something happened to me, something shut down. >> shortly after his death, with no suspects arrested, a video surfaces of the murder from the state bank and trust. >> the surveillance camera was located up here, up above my head, looking straight down on the night deposit box, which of course captured the whole crime. as you see from the video, mr. washington turned around and attempted to draw his weapon but

was shot by one of the suspects before he was able to draw his weapon. one suspect actually, for some reason, came back to the scene. we don't know why. and then he eventually leaves the scene in mr. washington's pick-up truck. after the shot was fired, a couple of neighbors who live across the street from the bank actually came outside to investigate. and they were the ones who actually found mr. washington down in the parking lot and called 911. >> when i saw it, i just wanted to see him. i didn't look at the murderers. i didn't look at any of that. i was trying to see phillip. i was like, what happened to you? you were supposed to come home. phillip was strong. he was strong. he was a strong man.

and so i still hadn't processed him dead. and so when i saw him on the ground, i saw it but i still didn't get it. and it took me a long time to really believe that he was gone. >> phillip's murder remains -- no arrests are made for more than two years until police acting on a tip arrest 31-year-old kenneth wayne rogers. he and two co-conspirators are charged with capital murder and are currently awaiting trial. nobody can escape cameras these days. they're everywhere, watching and recording our every move. sometimes that feels a little creepy, and some people are concerned about the possible invasion of privacy. but it's also the reason many

criminals are caught. if you have a video you'd like to send to us, logon to our website. caughtoncamera.msnbc.com. i'm contessa brewer. that's it for this edition of "caught on camera."

>> what if you witnessed a life or death struggle over a gun? >> i never grabbed a gun before, but i knew that i better be the one who had it.