A frantic mother wailed in anguish as she begged an intruder to let go of her baby after he broke into their home and held them hostage, videos showed.
Michele Peters was celebrating Memorial Day in 2023 with friends and her three children when Antonio Hammond, 28, ran into her house and took her two-year-old daughter hostage to keep police from killing him, he told her.
She had assumed he was a friend of a friend, but instead he was an alleged criminal fleeing police after he attempted to shoot them when they tried to confront him for having a gun hidden in his pocket, Penn Live reported.
He clutched her toddler in one hand and had a gun in the other, asking the young mother: 'Do you trust in God?'
'I do, but I don't know you!' she frantically replied, video released by the district attorney showed.
'They're trying to kill me,' Hammond told her, sounding frightened as they stood behind her closed front door. 'Do you think God is going to hurt your baby? Come on, God ain't going to hurt no baby.
'I'm nobody, you're nobody. Trust in God... Walk me to safety. You're on my side, you're on my side. Please. Don't cry,' he begged as the mother sobbed.
'I'm trying, but you got my pride and my joy,' she told Hammond as they looked out of the front door to see a large police presence.
Antonio Hammond, 28, ran into Michele Peters' house in 2023 and took her two-year-old daughter hostage so that police wouldn't kill him, he told her
He insisted police would kill him because they wouldn't shoot a child
'Your baby is so safe,' he insisted.
'I don't know you,' she wailed.
'Trust in God, don't trust me, trust in God,' he replied.
Moments later, he cracked the screen door to negotiate with police, telling them that he and Peters had children with them.
When police wouldn't listen to him, he turned back to the emotional mother, insisting authorities wouldn't dare shoot her baby on camera. The mother was filming off his phone after he had given it to her, Penn Live reported.
'I don't even know what you did!' she yelled at him.
'They can't kill nobody for no reason on camera,' he reassured as he kept the gun in front of him.
'Come on, give me my baby, please,' she begged.
The mother begged the man to let go of her child. 'You got my pride and my joy,' she said
She told police that she did not know the man and informed them that he had her child and a gun
'He's aiming, he's f**king aiming!' Hammond yelled.
'I know he's aiming! Give me my baby!' the young mother frantically screamed at the criminal.
The pair went back and forth before the mother leaned around the screen door to tell people she was unfamiliar with the man inside her home.
'He has my child, and he has a gun. I don't know this man,' she yelled as her daughter began to cry. 'He won't give me my baby. He has a gun!'
Hammond moved to the back door, where the mother began pleading with the man that she would 'be on your side' as long as he put the baby on the couch.
Peters eventually left the house, being forced to leave her middle child with the man. Her eldest daughter escaped with her mother's friend earlier in the altercation, and Peters carried her youngest when she left, Penn Live reported.
A SWAT team later arrived, and using a drone, they were able to see Hammond lying on a mattress with the child clutched under a blanket and the gun in the other hand.
When Hammond noticed the drone, he pointed the gun at the baby, then at the tactical equipment.
After locating the pair, tactical officers worked to get inside the house through the back door. When Hammond, gun-less at this point, was focused on the front of the house, officers entered through the back.
On Tuesday, Hammond was convicted of kidnapping and faces up to 20 years in prison
One officer tackled the man to the ground, while another worked to get the gun. Another tried to get Peters' two-year-old away from him.
During the struggle, officers shot Hammond in the head. He managed to spring back up, but officers restrained him and started rendering aid to him.
He held the child hostage for about five hours, Harrisburg Police Commissioner Tom Carter said.
On Tuesday, Hammond was convicted of kidnapping, burglary of an occupied residence, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and carrying a firearm without a license, among other charges.
He was acquitted of aggravated assault.
Hammond will be sentenced on September 30. He faces up to 20 years in prison.
His lawyer, Michael Palermo, told the Daily Mail that they plan to appeal the case and that his client never denied entering Peters' home. He does deny attempting to shoot at officers.
'He regrets the way things played out,' Palermo told the Daily Mail. 'It was a bunch of split second decisions that ended in chaos.'
Hammond also maintains that the child came up to him after he entered Peters' home.
Peters and Hammond also spoke after the conviction, where the mother told him she will be at the sentencing, Palermo said.
He also said the mother told Hammond she wants him to get mental health treatment.
此内容由惯性聚合(RSS阅读器)自动聚合整理，仅供阅读参考。 原文来自 — 版权归原作者所有。