Walmart: Hostage Situation Caught on Video Tape; Child Snatched From Shopping Cart (Video)

Walmart hostage situation video showed a child snatched right out of her mother’s shopping cart in broad daylight. The video of the Walmart hostage situation was released by authorities today. Walmart hostage video shows a deadly standoff. Surveillance cameras at the Midwest City, Oklahoma, Walmart were on when Police shot Sammie Wallace in the head at point-blank range, killing him instantly on June 17.

The Walmart hostage situation began when Sammie Wallace, 37, grabbed a 2-year-old little girl from her mother’s shopping cart while her 12-year-old sister looked on. The mother, Alicia Keating, had her back to the shopping cart. Walmart surveillance video showed the man holding a knife to the young girl’s stomach and hand his cell phone to the child’s mother and demand that she call a cop in Dallas that he knows.

Frightened shoppers at the Oklahoma City Walmart frantically called 911.

One shopper said "He took this woman's kid and we need a police here immediately."

Another shopper told 911 "There's someone with a knife holding a little girl hostage."

A heroic neighborhood pastor Terry Parker, blocked Wallace with his cart until the police arrived. Parker said "If that gentleman was to come in my direction, he had to go through me or my cart if he wanted to do that."

The store was evacuated by SWAT teams to allow two policemen to negotiate with the Wallace. Police said the man who not responding coherently. They said that Wallace acted unstable and was making unreasonable demands. The police moved the mother and her other daughter to safety. When Wallace threatened to hurt the little girl and gave a count-down from sixty, one policeman distracted him while the other, Capt. David Huff, shot Wallace once in the head, killing him instantly. The girl was not harmed.

Police negotiated for over 30 minutes of negotiations with Wallace. They even offered him a chair at one point.

Midwest City Assistant Police Chief Sid Porter said “He had a weapon in his hand. A knife-type weapon holding up against the child, threatening the child’s life.”

Midwest City Police Chief Brandon Clabes said "He knew if he was going to take the shot he had only one chance. He made sure he was at point blank range so there was no ability to harm that child. Obviously, our goal was to talk him down to get him to release the child. Unfortunately, we weren’t successful but we were successful in saving this child and the fact is that Capt. Huff’s actions were extremely heroic and he waited till the very last moment.”

The Midwest City Police Department and Oklahoma County district attorney David Prater both studied the Walmart hostage video and found that the officer who opened fire acted properly.

 by Tony Sokol