tv Caught on Camera MSNBC August 8, 2015 12:00pm-1:01pm PDT
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>> guys, let me make something clear, i'm not dying. >> jon stewart has lec"john ste buildin building". terrifying life or death situations. >> i thought he was going to shoot me. i was looking straight down the barrel of the gun. >> hostages thrust into terrifying life or death situations. >> i thought he was going to shoot me. i was looking straight down the barrel of the gun. >> a dramatic attempt by u.s. special forces to save an american captive in iraq. >> i didn't know if it was
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somebody there to rescue me or to try to kill me. >> an eight-hour standoff explodes in a burst of gunfire. >> i was across the parking lot. i just heard pop, pop, pop. >> a bus load of children forced on a chase through the streets of miami by a desperate man. >> translator: he said if she didn't continue driving, he would blow up the bus. >> and 52 americans held against their will for more than a year. >> they'd come into your cell at night and say, we could kill you. >> "caught on camera" -- hostage. >> 911 emergency. >> we have a guy shooting a gun off. we have a gun.
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he's shooting. >> local tv cameras are rolling as an eight-hour standoff comes to a horrifying end. with a gunman going down the line executing hostages. april 4th, 1991. sacramento, california. 22-year-old lisa joseph is inside a good guys electronics store with her uncle and cousin. >> i'm five months pregnant. i had to use the restroom. my uncle, when i came out, he was closing up a conversation. >> then without warning, her uncle pulls her to the ground. >> then i hear, like, gunshots going off. then i hear screaming. then i hear, like, all this chaos. when i look up, i see a gunman holding a .9 millimeter with a ski mask on.
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>> i was told we had an armed robbery gone bad at the florence shopping center. >> i could hear they were rounding up a lot of customers. i could hear the crying kids. i could hear them saying, you, lay right here. you, sit right here. you, right here. >> after receiving several 911 calls, sheriff glen craig dispatches his special enforcement detail to the scene and negotiators make contact with the store. >> i can kill a lot of people here. you better hurry up. i'm not playing around. >> they learn four gunmen of vietnamese descent are holding hostages until their demands are met. and those demands are becoming more and more o-- outrageous. >> they asked initially for bullet proof vest. they wanted full body armor. everything from head to toe. >> i want a bulletproof vest, the kind you wear. to my neck. >> they asked for 1,000-year-old
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ginseng plants. they wanted a letter from the president of the united states giving them free passage back to vietnam. they wanted a helicopter big enough to take them and the hostages to vietnam. >> as day turns tonight, the gunmen show they are serious about their demands by wounding a hostage. >> they shot a man in the leg and sent him out to tell us if we didn't provide what they wanted, they were going to start shooting hostages. >> they want three bullet proof jackets, a helicopter, and firearms. they already shot me. >> listen up or there will be one dead person. one of those two standing at the door. >> at 9:30 p.m., eight hours into the standoff, sheriff craig makes a critical decision. when the police sniper fires the first shot, the s.w.a.t. team is to rush the store from the back. >> the whole idea was to make them believe we were attacking the store from the front, so that's where their attention
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would be. it would be away from the hostages and not focused on our s.w.a.t. team coming in from the rear of the store. >> to distract the gunmen, negotiators leave a bullet proof vest out front. >> the whole scenario was designed to give the sniper a clear shot once the door was open to get the vest. >> but the gunmen don't go out themselves. instead, they send out lisa's cousin. who is tethered to an electrical cord. >> when they sent the woman out to get the vest, that hampered the sniper's ability to shoot immediately when the door was opened. >> when he goes to send her out and she's trying to reach for the vest, that's when the sniper takes a shot. >> the sniper's bullet shattered the front door, but it did not get the hostage taker. >> in a split second, the eight-hour standoff explodes. [ gunshots firing ]
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>> i was starting across the parking lot, and i just heard pop, pop, pop. [ gunshots firing ] which was the hostage taker going down the line shooting hostages. my heart dropped all the way to my toes when that started taking place. [ gunshots firing ] >> with gunfire spraying in every direction, deputy sheriff john mcguinness quickly moves a tethered hostage to safety. >> as the shot was fired and glass broke, it instantaneously changed everything. now all the sudden it was intense. it was explosive panic. you could hear screaming. shots were fired by the suspects and by the s.w.a.t. members. >> i could hear all this chaos from the back of the store. i could hear screaming. i could hear gunfire.
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i just see all these people getting shot. >> when it's all over, six people are dead. three of the four gunmen and three hostages, including lisa's uncle. >> while i was still in the hospital, my grandmother came to see me to ask about her son, which was my uncle, and i had to give her the news. >> it turns out to be a double tragedy for lisa's family. not only is her uncle killed, but lisa has a miscarriage during the traumatic incident. decades later sheriff craig still replays in his mind his decision to storm the store. >> the sad part is that we made the decision based upon the fact they said they were going to start shooting people. if we waited and people were killed, it would be hard to live with yourself.
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>> storming the place and people being killed was not a lot easier. it's a very hard thing to live with. >> the sheriff said today given the desperation of the gunmen, this was bound to end violently. >> unfortunately , final outcome was three innocent people lost their lives. still, the vast majority of the people held there that day were released unharmed. i attribute to that some very brave souls who put themselves significantly in harm's way and frankly the leadership of the organization, i think, handled it very well. >> in his february 1995 trial, 21-year-old lloyd nguyen is convicted of three counts of murder. the motive, nguyen and his colleagues had trouble adjusting to life in the u.s. and wanted to draw attention to problems in their home country of vietnam. in 2003, lisa writes a book about her hostage experience, which continues to affect her
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and inspired her to devote her life to helping children and crime victims. >> a victim is someone who complains about something that happened to them. a survivor is someone who gets something that happened to them and makes something good come of it. that's a survivor. is >> nearly two decades later, there's another tense hostage standoff in sacramento. the three-day long drama begins on june 8th, 2010, and involves some of the same law enforcement officials. >> now i find myself in the role of sheriff. the concord police department had chased this suspect by the name of alvarez in the east bay. >> 26-year-old anthony alvarez is wanted in connection with three bay area bank robberies and a possible homicide. he evades a police roadblock, fires at a detective, and gets away. but then four days later -- >> they tracked him to a location on arden way in sacramento.
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as their officers went to attempt to arrest him, he very abruptly grabbed his second cousin, who would be dubbed jack pot by the s.w.a.t. team. >> the boy with the code name jack pot is michael pitman jr. he's the son of alvarez's cousin. now the 16-month-old is a hostage whose fate lies in the hands of a man who is armed and dangerous. police surround the apartment and get the gunman on the phone. but negotiations go nowhere. >> tell them to stop trying to make advancements because the child is at my side at all times. if you guys are concerned with the child's safety and health, then you guys will take into consideration. >> as the standoff grows well into the second day, the police are concerned as the welfare. >> the suspect went from calling
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him as the nephew or the baby, to referring to him as the hostage. >> after 40 hours, authorities escalate their tactics. using explosives, they blow a hole in the wall of the apartment to see inside. >> these would allow the officers the ability to see into the area where the suspect and child were concealed. >> the strategy pays off. the next day a s.w.a.t. team officer sees an opportunity through the port and takes a shot. >> he observed the suspect bend over and picked up the child. and he exposed his upper body and the the officer fired at the suspect, striking him in the heart and lung. >> one more shot. suspect is down. jackpot is okay. >> the suspect is killed. the toddler is uninjured. deputy orlando mays brings the boy to safety. the dramatic moment is caught on camera by local tv stations. >> the child was handed to me as i was right out the window.
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and i was able to take the child to safety. the child never cried. it seemed like i appeared to connect with the child. we made eye contact. i think the child really trusted me and felt safe. >> it's an ordeal the adults involved will never forget. and one the child will hopefully not remember. coming up, buried in the bunker and forced to go on camera to beg for his life. >> please, we are asking for help because my life is in danger. >> when "caught on camera: hostage" continues. [ school bell rings ] ♪ [ female announcer ] everything kids touch at school sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around.
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because my life is in danger. >> and a dramatic search by u.s. special forces all caught on two of the soldier's helmet cameras. >> is he going to be sold off to another group and beheaded? is he going to be killed because he's taking up too much effort? >> november 2004, roy hallums is working for the saudi arabia trading and construction company, negotiating catering contracts for the iraqi military and police. >> our office was about three blocks outside the green zone. where the embassy and the u.s. army offices locate. we knew it was a dangerous place, but we never had any trouble with anybody. >> but on november 1st, that all changes. at the time, special agent tom o'connor is with the fbi's joint terrorist task force. >> on november 1st of 2004 roy was working in in his district office.
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>> i was working on my computer, and i saw some motion to my left. when i looked up, there were four men standing in the doorway with ak-47s. one of them said, you come with us, or we'll kill you. >> they zip tied his hands behind his back and ankles. they put a bag over his head and then he was brought out to a car. >> like many hostages before him, roy hallums disappears without a trace. american authorities fear the worst. >> unfortunately a lot of the hostages were being shown on video being beheaded. so it was a real concern that a u.s. citizen would be used in that manner. >> but it appears the kidnapers are more interested in money than murder. >> the head of the gang, the sheikh, he said to me that because i was an
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american they were going to get $12 million for me. >> in order to conceal his presence, the captors hide hallums in a farm house 16 miles outside of baghdad in a hostile region coalition forces call the triangle of death. >> it's an area that had a lot of issues. there was a large insurgent population. al qaeda had strong base out of anbar province area. >> roy hallums residence for the next ten months is this underground bunker, seen here in photos, later taken by the fbi's evidence response team. the conditions, inhumane. >> i was always tied up. always had a blindfold. when they shot the door, it would be totally black. if you tried to stand up, you had to bend over, because it was so short. i was like that 24 hours a day. >> i've been in law enforcement 30 years. i've never heard of such a horrendous environment for someone to be in.
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>> on close up this morning, american hostage roy hallums. he was snatched in baghdad nearly three months ago. on tuesday a videotape merged showing hallums pleading for his life. >> i'm please asking for help because my life is in danger. >> proof of life video is just that. it's going to show anybody who is interested, whether it be family, whether it be law enforcement, that we have this person and he's alive. >> they take the mask off. on my left there's a man with an ak-47. he puts a piece of paper like right here. he says, you read it. my worst thoughts are, well, they're going to kill me during the video. i'm not asking for any help from president bush because i know of his selfishness and unconcern for those pushed into the hell hole. >> when you watch it, it's clear this isn't roy hallum's words.
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he asked for assistance not from the u.s. government but from libyan leader moammar gadhafi. >> i am asking for help of arab rulers, especially president moammar gadhafi, because he's known for helping those who are suffering. >> it takes nearly a year before the u.s. government has enough intelligence to act safely. there's no guarantee hallums will even be alive once they get there. but on september 7th, 2005, it's go time. a daring raid in broad daylight, and the soldiers' helmet cams capture every adrenaline-fueled moment. >> i heard helicopters, and at first it sounds normal, the helicopters flying by. the helicopters started getting louder, and then it felt like they were landing on top of the
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house. i heard a lot of yelling and running and then i heard somebody hitting on this door. i didn't know if it was somebody there to rescue me or trying to kill me. the door falls in. this american soldier jumps down in the room and he points at me, and he says, are you roy? and i said, yes. he says, come on, we're getting out of here. one of the special forces guys handed me a flag and said whenever we're able to rescue someone, we always give an american flag to them. >> it was a pretty exciting day for everybody that was involved in it. and i have to say in 30 years of law enforcement, that's as good as it gets. >> these guys jump out of their helicopter and run right in, not knowing what they're going to
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meet. they didn't know what to expect. to me they're real heros. >> for 311 days, roy hallums endured the worst of human behavior and lived to tell the story. >> i think the main thing is just don't give up hope. coming up, from a single desperate american to 52 desperate americans. inside one of the most notorious hostage situations of all time. >> for 444 days we were humiliated. from the firing squads, stripping nude. >> when "caught on camera: hostage" returns.
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squads to stripped nude. >> islamic students, militants, are angry with the american government over the support of the deposed shah of iran. in what will become the single most iconic image of the crisis, the students lead their american hostages blindfolded out of the american embassy in iran and parade them before photographers. for months leading up to the crisis, iran has been in political turmoil. the western supported shah of iran is ousted off the revolution in february. at the time barry rosen is a press -- with the u.s. embassy in tehran. >> we were in a very volatile situation for those nine months or so. and much of it came to a head when the shah was permitted into the united states for medical reasons. >> mobs of students are protesting outside the u.s. embassy. >> imagine a quarter million
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people chanting death to america. people knew that tensions were very high. >> on the morning of november 4th, 1979, ten months into the protest, rocky sickman, a 22-year-old marine security guard, gets a stress call that iranian students are storming the embassy grounds. >> over the gate came these individuals. i took off running back to the main embassy building. >> many of these students started to shake the main gate and to climb over or use cutters to cut the chain. >> sickman and another marine make it inside the building just as a group of students makes it through the gate. >> your adrenaline is pumping. but at the same time, you're
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trying to load your pistol. you're thinking, here is rocky sickman from missouri. this is where it's going to end. >> sickman says he and his colleagues are ready to shoot but receive an order to stand down. >> our orders are don't fire, don't antagonize because help is on the way. we have people coming. we'll get this resolved. >> but instead of resolution, it's more revolution. the iconic image of the students parading their hostages before the media is replayed countless times to a country that feels it's being held hostage. >> the morning that we were taken they brought us out to the front of the embassy. there were thousands of people at this point in time. >> the 52 americans become human bargaining chips as the students demand the u.s. return the shah to iran. for the next 14 months rosen says the captors abused them physically and emotionally. >> they come into your cell at night and put you against the wall.
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put a gun against your neck and say, we could kill you. and then walk right out. >> my worst day is when they put me up against the wall, stripped nude, with three rifles. >> the captors forced the hostages to say things on camera that make it seem they're sympathetic to the students' cause. >> i know they keep telling us they want the shah to return to iran and we'll be released. >> on multiple occasions the iranian students release staged videos of hostages, including barry rosen, shown here, being examined by doctors, all propaganda began to to convince the west they're treating them humanely. >> there were times that they had some people coming in and checking on our health. sure enough, they use that videotape that they brought the weights we had at the embassy from the weight room. they knew they needed us healthy to be able to negotiate.
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>> as the days turn into weeks and then months, the hostages wonder if the outside world has forgotten about them. but actually the hostage crisis remains a lead story. >> the american embassy is in the hands of muslim students. >> during the ninth day of the crisis over the hostages in iran. >> on the 49th day of the embassy takeover. >> the militants who have held hostages for 124 days. >> this is the 300th day of their captivity. >> about six months into the crisis, there's a rescue attempt. operation eagle claw is a disaster. the mission is aborted. as american forces are on their way out of iran, a helicopter crashing into a c-130 killing eight american servicemen. it's an embarrassment for jimmy carter. afterwards they scatter the hostage s across the country to make a
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second rescue attempt nearly impossible. then on january 20th, 1981, there's finally a break. >> good evening. on the 444th and final day of the hostage crisis. >> i, ronald reagan, do solemnly swear -- >> minutes after president reagan's inaugural address, the hostages are released. a dark chapter in the nation's history has ended. they're coming home. >> all of us got on the plane. counted to make sure everybody is there. >> there is no high fives. there's no screaming. i mean, people are still in shock. and still concerned that this is really going to happen. >> the hostages head to the united states where they reunite with families they haven't seen in more than a year. the emotional moments are caught on camera and carried live on tv. >> my brothers, sister, girlfriend were all waiting for
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me and mom and dad to get off the airplane. >> i remember getting off the plane. and i'm met by barbara and the kids. it was good again. it was great again. >> shortly after their arrival on u.s. soil, the hostages are honored with a parade down new york city's canyon of heroes. >> you could see new yorkers were just so happy to see us. it became a national parade, and it really meant something to all of us. it was at that time we got the idea that we weren't forgotten. coming up, a bus load of kids held hostage by a desperate man with police in pursuit. >> translator: he said that if she didn't continue driving he would blow up the bus. >> when "caught on camera: hostage" continues. i've smoked a lot
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i'm richard louie with the hour's top stories. authorities in arlington, texas, a police officer shot and killed a college football player during a struggle after the unarmed 19-year-old crashed through the front window of a dealership. and donald trump was disinvited after comments about fox news anchor megyn kelly. they felt she implied her questioning during the thursday debate was hormonal. the trump campaign denies that. now back to "caught on camera." november 2nd, 1995, miami, florida. a 25-mile low-speed police chase comes to a deadly conclusion. after an emotionally disturbed man takes 13 special needs
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children hostage on their school bus. miami tv crews capture the entire incident on camera. at the time she begins her morning by putting her son daniel on the school bus, but this day is different. >> translator: i noticed someone crossing the street, a well-dressed man. he quickly pushed me into the bus, closed the doors and ordered the bus driver to drive, to keep going, and that he had a gun. >> the man is highly agitated. he demands to be driven to a local irs headquarters. authorities respond by sending a swarm of police vehicles on the scene on the palmetto expressway. it was a cross between "speed" and the oj simpson chase. it was a slow-speed chase for a long time. everybody was afraid of what might happen.
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there's reason for fear. the man who has commandeered the bus, the 42-year-old, is armed with a gun and a bomb. >> he had a box he hid in one of the seats. we believed it was some kind of weapon. >> translator: he said that if she didn't continue driving, he would blow up the bus. i started talking to him. i asked him why he was doing that this, that these were special kids. not to hurt them. to not hurt us. >> through the two-way radio, sang tells authorities he's willing to talk. a florida highway patrol trooper risks his life, driving the car alongside the bus and throwing a cell phone in to the open door. >> he facilitated the only method of communication we had with the
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hijacker. >> now a police negotiator can communicate with sangh, but it's a futile effort. >> he had him on the phone and he never determined what it was he wanted. >> he said, i have a huge tax debt. i don't have a way to pay it. i have two girls in college. they study at fiu and i work as a waiter in a restaurant. >> police later learn sangh owed more than $15,000 to the irs, and he's distraught over it. >> but the bus passes the exit for the irs building. nobody knows where it's headed. the bus driver helps authorities by repeatedly pressing her two-way radio so police can listen in. meanwhile, the miami-dade police department is mapping out a game plan to end the siege. sharp shooter j.a. fernandez is ready to move. then more than two hours after it started, the ride ends when the bus stops in front of the miami beach restaurant where sangh works part time. that's when fernandez and the
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s.w.a.t. team spring into action. >> i was told go for it. i just went right in. i was the first man inside the bus. >> he is focused on his target. >> i see him in the middle aisle gesturing for he to come in and sticking his hand inside the jacket. i made a split decision. i shot him three times. i didn't miss any of the rounds. i grabbed him, pulled him out, and ordered my team to drag him out away tr the bus just in case he had something we missed. >> the s.w.a.t. team pulls the wounded man out of the bus. they're still concerned he may be carrying an explosive device. >> other people were evacuating the school children. i kept hearing screams and stuff. and then we had the bomb squad come in and sweep it, and it turned out he didn't have anything. >> moments later lying alone on the the concrete, mr. sangh dies from his wounds. >> there was backlash because it turns out mr. sangh was a nice man.
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he was troubled. to this day i think it was a suicide by cop situation. it's unfortunate. >> as traumatic as it is, they can't help but feel pity for nick sangh. >> it had such an impact on me. deep down i realized he didn't have anything. not even a gun. more so because of what we had spoken about that really affected me. it hurt me very much what happened to him. >> fernandez has his own reflections on the incident. >> knowing what i know now, obviously i would not have shot the man. i wish it hadn't happened. it ended the way it did because of his own actions. coming up, a night out at the theater turns terrifying. only this is no show. when "caught on camera: hostage" returns. to folks out there whose diabetic nerve pain...
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november 23rd, 2002. theater in in moscow. a sold-out performance of russia's first broadway style musical "northeast." svetlana is celebrating with her american fiance and with her 13-year-old daughter sasha. the first act ends, nothing out of the ordinary. >> translator: then the second half started, and right around this time i saw -- no, heard, the gunshot and saw a man dressed in camouflage getting on the stage. >> the theater's house camera captures the first startling moments of what will turn out to be a four-day siege. a masked man shooting wildly into the air, the 850 theater goers don't know whether it's part of the show or something else. >> translator: i looked around and saw groups of armed
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men walks along the aisles on both sides. >> the terrorists are filming amateur video, which shows women strapped with what they claim to be bombs, lining the theater aisles, waiting for the command to detonate. their leader, a notorious chechen terrorist commander, takes the stage. >> translator: boria behaves like a conquerer and announced from the stage that this was a siege and demand the war in chechnya come to an end. >> at the time, chechnya is fighting its second civil war to gain independence from russia. the terrorists are demanding that the russian government end its occupation of their homeland. if their demands are not met, he says he will level the theater with everyone inside. >> translator: i kept looking at this bomb and thinking, what if, where would we hide? the woman noticed my nerves and said, don't worry, if it
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explodes, everyone will get it regardless. >> now clear this is a life or death situation, the moscow theater siege becomes an international lead story. >> in moscow this evening, armed gunmen are holding hundreds of people hostage at a theater there. >> this reporter covers russia for "the sunday times of london." he convinces the rebel leader to do a face-to-face interview. this news footage shows him as he makes his way inside. >> the atmosphere was very tense. i was put up against a wall with three or four ak-47s pointed at me. i was searched. i was led into a small storage room. >> translator: we have but one goal, to stop the war in chechnya and remove the russian army from chechnya. >> it was unprecedented. we're talking 40 heavily armed
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terrorists traveling 200 kilometers, arriving undetected, unhindered, and taking 800 hostages in central moscow. it was a massive triumph and success as far as he was concerned. >> the siege drags onto a second day, then a third. then after 57 hours, a development. russian officials tell the rebels a negotiator is coming to discuss terms for a russian withdrawal from chechnya. >> eventually they were told that the main general in the war was going to come and talk to them. there was a sense that after two days of standoff they had managed to finally achieve a breakthrough. >> but the russian government has another plan in mind. >> the russians have no intention of allowing the main general in the war to go inside. they tricked the terrorists, alluring them into a sense of full security. so they lowered their guard. they relaxed.
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>> and they're going to pay for that. at 5:45, more than four days into the siege, russia forces make their move, staging a full scale assault. they pump a cold war era weaponized gas into the theater. once they knock out the terrorists with the chemical agent, the plan is to enter and shoot. it's a decision the russian government will come to regret. >> what happened next was utter chaos. the government gave no warning whatsoever to the emergency services. >> emergency service workers are grossly unprepared for the hundreds of unconscious theater goers. many of the victims die outside the theater. >> there was just panic. we got to get them out. we've got to get them out. they were dumping them outside. people were literally suffocating to death outside.
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there weren't enough doctors there who were actually checking. all right. this person is out. is he breathing? if he's not breathing, resuscitate him. put him in a recovery position. that was the issue. i have absolutely no doubt in my mind whatsoever that more people could have been saved. >> in the panic, svetlana and her 13-year-old daughter are separated. the story ends tragically. neither svetlana's american fiance nor her daughter survive. >> sasha ended up on the very bottom of the pile. she was crushed. no chance of surviving with such a rescue. >> svlenana's life is changed forever. she lost a daughter. >> i'm still coming to terms with it, living with it. i'm trying to survive somehow.
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. >> all of the terrorists are killed and 130 of the 850 hostages die as a result of the gas or lack of medical attention. a memorial still stands outside the still functioning theater as a stark reminder of that dark moment in recent russian history. >> coming up, a police taser cam captures a point-blank shootout pitting cop against hostage-taking gunman. >> i thought he was going to shoot me. i was looking straight down the barrel of the gun. >> when "caught on camera: hostage" continues.
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stop convenience store. all caught on camera. the man says he has two improvised explosive devices, or ieds. to protect the public and contain the scene, police quickly close the street and divert traffic. a first blast inside the store knocks the door open. with all the commotion, a crowd gathers. people can see enough to offer a running commentary. suddenly they're shocked to see the assailant appear, threatening the clerk with a knife. the man baits the police, yelling "shoot me" several times. meanwhile, bystanders growing angry and impatient attempt to
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negotiate with the hostage taker in their own way. >> let her go you [ bleep ] coward! then without warning, just as police begin moving the canine unit into position, the man lets the hostage go. >> run! run! >> at this point police move in. >> smoot me. >> shoot me, mother -- >> he makes a run for it into the woods, the police and their dog give chase. >> let the dog go! >> meanwhile, sarah, the hostage, is reunited with her parents. in the woods, a photographer from a local newspaper captures the moment police taze the suspect and take him into custody. he's identified as 24-year-old joshua robert terry. his next stop, prison. in another taser incident in may
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2009, matt edmonds wrapping up his bartending shift at the lakes hotel in australia when out of nowhere a masked man accosts him. >> the gunman grabbed me on the right, put gun to my head, and told me to get back inside. >> the gunman then grabs two more hostages, both of them hotel employees. >> there's me, the manager, and the security guard. and he was just asking for money. >> sergeant steve dilorenzo of the new south wales police department is the first officer to arrive on scene. >> i saw there was a man with a high-caliber semiautomatic pistol, and i noticed there were several hostages were screaming. >> the sergeant is armed with a taser gun. >> the taser carries a camera on it, and it films the person who was going to be tasered. i came up on his blind side.
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and fired the taser at the center of his body. the taser landed on a zipper, and he wasn't shocked by the weapon. i kept walking towards him, thinking the weapon had worked, and he pointed his firearm at my head and fired two shots straight directly at my head. you can see him firing back point-blank. >> a lot of noise. a lot of flashing. it's all sort of blurry because it happened so quickly. >> a fellow officers lends dilorenzo a weapon and a bulletproof vest. a fast and furious gun battle breaks out. >> i decided that i would shoot him in the lower leg, dropping him to the ground, rendering him immobile, and then rush at him and shoot him point-blank in the stomach area. >> but the gunman isn't going down without a fight. he shoots did i lorenzo in the shoulder. >> it went straight through me. i didn't feel it at all. i went to touch under my arm, and i felt a wet substance there.
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i was able to put my thumb into my shoulder, so i knew i had been hit. >> despite his injury, dilorenzo helps free the hostages, then he is brought to the hospital. at the end of the four-hour siege, the gunman, a 39-year-old man injured and bleeding heavily is taken into police custody. two years after the incident he's convicted of seven offenses, including shooting with intent to murder sergeant dilorenzo. he's sentenced to a minimum of 11 years. in the wake of the incident in which no hostages were killed or injured, many local newspapers call sergeant dilorenzo a hero. >> i wasn't thinking of medals being handed out. or hero status. i did it because of a sense of duty and a sense of honor to the community. and i'm very, very proud that i did what i did that night.
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these criminals may think no one's watching, but a powerful observer is recording every detail. >> just sat and watched this video with our mouths open. >> the tape closed this case, period. >> now see with your own eyes just what these victims endured. >> he just comes right over me and shoots me. >> i was trying to protect myself. >> the horror. >> is this guy going to kill me? >> the brutality. >> i was driving in the center -- >> the fear. >> i'm not going to lie. it was a scary situation. >> "caught in the act." >> the defendant is guilty of murder in the first degree. >> caught red-handed. >> we, the jury, impose a sentence of death.
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