The Tulsa, Okla., police department has released dramatic dash cam footage showing the moment a police sniper opened fire on a man holding a two-year-old hostage.
The incident occurred the evening of Oct. 17 when police responded to a call of a home invasion in east Tulsa.
When they arrived, they learned that Salvador Reyes, 44, had broken into the home of his estranged ex-wife armed with a gun. While the woman, her boyfriend, and her three other children were able to flee the home, police say Reyes was able to grab the woman’s two-year-old daughter and hold her hostage as officers arrived.
For several hours, a tense standoff took place as police attempted to communicate with Reyes through a translator, but police say he refused to comply with any of their demands.
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Finally, just after 3 a.m. the man appeared in an upstairs window holding the little girl. Moments later, Tulsa police sniper Jason Lawless fired a single shot which dropped Reyes.
“He’d down! He’s down!” an officer can be heard shouting over the radio as multiple tactical officers storm into the home.
“It is kind of unnerving to put crosshairs on a real-live human being,” Perry Lewis, who trains the Tulsa Police Department’s Precision Rifle Operators, told KFOR News in Oklahoma.
According to police, the girl was not harmed during the standoff or shooting. Reyes was killed by the sniper shot.