Walmart employees got the shock of their lives on June 17th when a man wielding a knife grabbed a 2-year old little girl from her mother’s shopping cart and held the weapon to her throat before making bizarre demands.
Alicia Keating was doing her grocery shopping in a Midwest City, Oklahoma store when Sammie Wallace yanked the child from the cart while her back was turned. As terrified shoppers looked on, Keating began begging for her child’s life to no avail, and store employees moved in to assess the situation. Soon, police swarmed in and began a negotiation process after moving Keating to the front of the store, but Wallace was uncooperative. His demands became more and more complicated and finally, he began counting down from 60.
“When a subject starts telling you that in 60 seconds he’s going to kill a hostage, that’s going to move you right up to the point that you will shoot him and that’s what occurred in this case,” ABC News consultant and former FBI agent Brad Garrett said.
According to NewsOn6.com, Wallace handed Keating a cell phone after he grabbed her daughter and demanded that she contact a police officer in Texas. That officer confirmed to Oklahoma police that Wallace had been harassing him, but details as to why haven’t been released. When Wallace began the countdown, an officer distracted him while Captain David Huff moved in and shot him point-blank in the head. The little girl was unharmed and returned to her frantic mother.
The surveillance footage of Wallace’s abduction and threats has just been released; you can see him circling the frozen food section as Keating shops, looking for his moment. Officials say his family confirmed that he suffered from a mental illness.
NewsOn6.com – Tulsa, OK – News, Weather, Video and Sports – KOTV.com |