“’I did not maintain my composure. I was completely freaked out,’ (Alicia Keating) said. ‘I wanted to reach out and grab her but he had a knife. There was nothing I could do but stand there and beg for her life.’” Other shoppers in the Midwest City, Oklahoma Wally World dialed 911 when Sammie Wallace snatched Keating’s daughter, 2-year-old Zoey, from a shopping cart. “’Here’s this huge man standing there with my daughter in his arms and he has a knife pointing towards her side,’ Keating said on TODAY in a segment that aired Wednesday. ‘He said really quietly, ‘Hey, little mamma. You see this knife?’’” . . .
Midwest City, Okla., police cleared the store as soon as they arrived. They negotiated for more than 30 minutes with the suspect, Sammie Wallace, who continued to hold a knife to the toddler’s neck. At one point, they gave Wallace a chair and talked with him one-on-one, according to the video.
Police said Wallace then started a 60-second countdown that the suspect warned would end up with him harming the child.
Ultimately, this little drama was a DGU. Thankfully. That’s because Midwest City PD Capt. David Huff, concerned by what might happen when the nut-job counted down to zero, calmly walked up to Wallace and put his lights out with one shot to the head. (The video above ends just before the shot is fired.)
Fortunately, everyone’s just fine. Well, other than Wallace. There will be no shortage of people who hold this incident up as a good example of why only the police should be armed. All’s well that end’s well, right? Only a lot of horrifyingly awful things could have happened to that little girl – and others in the store – in the time it took the local 5-0 to respond.
Oklahoma has very liberal gun laws. Concealed carry license holders are free to tote their sidearm either concealed or openly as the mood strikes them. You can check out the application process here, Mrs. Keating. Just FYI. (h/t Leo J. and Dr. Vino)