00:00:02
set. This sniper just took a shot at an armed fugitive holding a family of five hostage in their home.
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>> My family being held hostage. >> The gunman, Joseph Anthony, is a man with a purpose. He has a vendetta and
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he's going on a rampage, planning to kill his ex-girlfriend and multiple other people who wronged him in the
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past. Police don't know how far he's gotten on his list of targets. And if they don't capture him here, this family
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could be next. >> Running across the freeway. LET ME SEE YOUR HANDS. [screaming]
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>> ALL UNITS, I'M GOING TO SET CONTAINMENT. We're going to wait for the helicopter.
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All units, hold your position. >> Suck in. Right. This is showtime. out. >> More police. Police. Police.
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>> It's Thursday, September 9th, and the first sign that something is seriously wrong comes from an alarming 911 call.
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>> 911. What is the address of your emergency? >> Uh, Leon. So, my brother, he uh he's on
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the loose right now and he threatened to kill his girlfriend a couple days ago. He just showed up at my house.
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>> What's your brother's name? >> Joseph Manhard. He has a firearm on him and he is armed.
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>> Where is he? >> He's outside my front door right now. Um, I need the cops here ASAP.
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>> I've got units on their way. Okay. >> Okay. You better hurry. >> You got to hurry though. I'm dead
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serious. >> Just 24 hours earlier, Joseph Manhard kidnapped his ex-girlfriend, [music]
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assaulted her, and threatened to kill her. After managing to escape, she called police, triggering an arrest
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warrant for Joseph's immediate capture. Since then, Joseph vanished and police had no indication of where he might
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strike next until now. With an active warrant and a report that Joseph is armed and dangerous, officers
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are dispatched immediately, advancing towards the house, fully prepared for a shootout.
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>> I've just talked to the homeowner. He's he said that if he didn't drive, the only place he could have went is hopped
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the fence and is barricaded in that shed that Swinson's got a view on. So he said
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the best way to go through is us just knock on the door. He'll let us in. We'll go through the house and clear the
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shed. >> We're ready. >> All right. I got the Oh, got it. >> Bye. You want to show us where to go?
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>> And where's the shed? >> Corner over there. >> You got me? >> Yeah. >> I'm going to have to go through and hit
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it and come swing it out wide. >> Swing out wide and I can step in front of it. >> Okay.
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Police. Anyone in there? Police. If anyone's in there, show me your hands. Come out.
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>> Can't see in the box. All right. Step in. >> Okay. >> Left. Right. I'm going to
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go your hands. Anyone in here? Okay. Claire. All right. You didn't make it in here.
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He probably drove by one of us. >> With no sign of the suspect, Joseph remains at large. And whatever he came
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here to do, he didn't finish it. So before officers leave the residence, they speak with Joseph's brother, trying
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to understand why Joseph showed up and what he might do next. What he tells them reframes the entire situation.
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According to his brother, Joseph didn't come here randomly. He was likely looking for his ex-girlfriend, the same
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woman who escaped his kidnapping just a day earlier. The two had recently broken
00:04:20
up, a split that left Joseph without stable housing and increasingly angry. His brother also tells police that in
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recent conversations, Joseph had been talking about tying up loose ends and ending it all. To officers, it begins to
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sound like Joseph isn't just running. He may be moving with intent, driven by a personal vendetta and targeting people
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he believes have wronged him. If that's true, it has never been more urgent to locate Joseph before he reaches someone
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else. But it doesn't take long for those fears to be confirmed because later that
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evening, police receive another alarming 911 call. >> Careful 911. >> My brother-in-law's not right now.
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>> Okay. Where is he? Is he outside? >> Yes, he's outside. >> Okay. Is he knocking on the door or
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what's he doing? >> He's in the front yard. They said they already have APB out on him.
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>> Yes. Okay. >> Right now. >> Okay. We're on the way. Um, tell me exactly where he's at.
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>> She was out front. She's walking around out front. >> He's walking around. >> Following this terrifying call for help
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from Joseph's sister-in-law, officers are dispatched [music] to the home once again. But by the time they arrive,
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Joseph has already vanished. This time, however, officers decide to canvas the surrounding neighborhood before leaving.
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A decision that will prove critical. Nearby CCTV footage captures Joseph getting into a car and speeding away
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from the property earlier in the day. [music] For the next few hours, patrol units search across the city, but the
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white Hyundai remains out of sight. But over the next several hours, Joseph's decisions will force officers into one
00:06:05
of the most dangerous manhunts of their careers. For the next few hours, patrol units
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search across the city, but the white Hyundai remains out of sight. Then, around 1:30 a.m., a lone patrol unit
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spots a vehicle matching the description and immediately initiates a pursuit. 28
00:06:37
right now just >> as the officer begins to close the distance, he suddenly loses sight of the
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car Joseph is believed to be driving. But just minutes later, as patrol units continue canvasing the area, one officer
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spots Joseph's car parked on nearby train tracks. With no way of knowing whether Joseph is still inside or hiding
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close by, the officer cautiously approaches the vehicle. >> He went right through.
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>> Hey, I have civilians here saying that there's a car parked on the tracks at building hotel 3 on the southwest end.
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Can I get a couple more of this way? >> 31 headed that way. It builds up to 76. I have visual on the
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vehicle. It looks like it still might be occupied. I forget south corner of hotel.
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We'll click vehicle might be abandoned. If we can start getting the containment close in and then I can start my dog.
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The car turns out to be empty and there's no sign of Joseph anywhere nearby. By abandoning the vehicle here,
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Joseph appears to have given officers an advantage. He is now on foot without transportation. Police finally have a
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chance to corner him. But that window closes almost immediately as just 20 minutes later, Joseph makes his next
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move. >> 911. >> Yeah, this is the utility trailer. I just had a lady walk in the front door,
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said her car was stolen and she was shot at. >> What kind of car? >> Blood on her.
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>> We're We're in the area looking for this guy. Could she tell you quick what kind
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of car? >> Over here. >> What kind of car? >> Kia Optima. >> As dispatch gathers details from the
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call, patrol units across the area are alerted to be on the lookout for a stolen white Kia Optima taken at
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gunpoint. At the same time, one patrol unit is sent to the scene of the carjacking to speak directly with the
00:08:47
victim, where they'll learn just how close Joseph is to committing his first murder.
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>> Do you mind if I talk to you for a second, ma'am? >> Okay. Do you mind just telling me what
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happened? >> Um, so I was sitting in my car and he was like, "Hey, do you have a cigarette
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or no?" He asked me if I had a lighter, sorry. [music] And I was like, "Yeah." And I only
00:09:08
rolled down my window like this far and I handed him my lighter and then he was handing it back to me and then he just
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shoved his arm in my window and I just started rolling it up and I started screaming and he was like, "I have a
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[ __ ] gun." And then he pulled it out and I just kept rolling out the window trying to scream and then he just shot
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it out the window and then I just opened the door and I see [ __ ] have it. Have
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it. And then I just got out and ran. >> Okay, >> by this point it's clear Joseph has lost
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control [music] and this woman is lucky to be alive. But that might not be the case for whoever crosses his path next.
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Because just minutes later, around 2:00 a.m., a patrol unit spots the stolen car
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speeding down the highway heading toward Utah County. As soon as the pursuit begins, Joseph starts swerving across
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lanes, forcing other drivers to react and putting innocent lives directly in danger.
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southbound right now. >> With Joseph refusing to slow down, it's only a matter of time before someone
00:10:17
gets hurt. So, to bring the pursuit to an end, an officer approaching from the opposite side of the highway pulls over
00:10:24
and prepares to deploy spike strips. At highway speeds, there's no margin for error. The spikes have to go down
00:10:31
seconds before Joseph reaches them. Too early and he'll see them in time to swerve around and put innocent lives at
00:10:38
even greater risk. Good spikes. Good spikes. Southbound Shepherd need >> running across the freeway. He's running
00:11:09
across the freeway. He's in the northbound lanes. He's in the northbound lanes. Red jacket, LET ME SEE YOUR
00:11:14
HANDS. HE'S uh he's hopping the fence. He's over the fence now. He's over the fence now. Now we need units to
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frontage. >> He's on frontage now. On frontage is going to housing complex over here
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by a a white like fence is about to hop. He's hopping it into someone's backyard.
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>> After abandoning his car, Joseph runs towards a residential area surrounded by
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homes where families are asleep inside. Knowing how dangerous and unpredictable Joseph is, officers now have to cut
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through the busy highway and move quickly to find him before anyone else is put at risk.
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No, he he's behind that picket fence right there. Whatever address that is. I don't know what the hell that is, but
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he's behind that. Negative shotage toward that >> 202 come out that way >> over this vinyl right here. That's where
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you went in this backyard. >> I copy, sir. I will be headed our direction shortly.
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>> Where are you? >> You hop this one right here. >> All units, I'm going to set containment.
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We're going to wait for the helicopter. All units, hold your position. Don't go walking around.
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>> With Joseph disappearing into a residential area, the situation becomes far more unpredictable. By now, more
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than 30 officers are flooding the scene. And without coordination, every decision
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risks putting innocent families in danger. This is when Sergeant Sheldon arrives and takes control.
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>> You guys, >> stand by. I'm setting containment. All right. Sorry, bro. I don't have all the
00:13:09
information cuz we switched us last minute. Okay. So, what do you guys got? >> So, he already shot someone in the free
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port center. >> Um, it's probably going to take like half an hour for that bird to go.
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>> He hopped over that fence right there. >> Which fence? >> That one right there.
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>> After a quick brief, Sergeant Sheldon forms a plan to flush out Joseph. First,
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a helicopter is called in to scan the neighborhood from above. Second, a tactical operations center is
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established near Joseph's last known location to coordinate [music] every unit in real time. And third, officers
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set up a wide containment zone covering more than a square mile with units positioned throughout the neighborhood
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to cut off any possible escape routes. But just as the plan goes into motion, officers are abruptly interrupted by a
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sharp sound in the distance. Not sure if that's where they came from. >> Right where Preston's at. That's where
00:14:04
the shots came from. It was one single shot. >> Preston, are you okay? Hold your
00:14:09
position. I'm sending a unit around to you. Go to >> We're going to get if we can get someone
00:14:14
over here to the north of 2025 North Front containment. Y >> I'll set containment. You guys come up
00:14:20
with a plan to systematically search this. >> Okay. The gunshot confirms one thing
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immediately. Joseph is still in the area. But what officers don't realize yet is that the shot wasn't random. It
00:14:33
was Joseph forcing his way into a nearby home. And in the next few hours, the situation will escalate in ways officers
00:14:41
aren't prepared for. But before we get to that, sometimes the scariest horror stories happen in your own head. Like
00:14:49
disturbing thoughts you don't want but can't stop replaying. thoughts like, "You're going to cheat on your partner
00:14:55
and ruin everything." [music] Or, "That memory doesn't feel clear. What if I did
00:14:59
something terrible and forgot?" These thoughts can feel so real and threatening that you start behaving in
00:15:05
lifealtering ways to try to make them go away. Maybe you spend hours [music] trying to figure out what these thoughts
00:15:10
mean or constantly seek reassurance that you're not a bad person, but the thoughts just get more persistent. If
00:15:17
this sounds familiar, you might be experiencing OCD. Contrary to what many people think, OCD isn't about being neat
00:15:24
or organized, real OCD [music] involves distressing, intrusive thoughts and behaviors you do to try to relieve the
00:15:30
distress. OCD can be debilitating, but it's highly treatable [music] with the right kind of specialized therapy. And
00:15:36
that's where NOCD comes in. NOCD is the world's largest [music] OCD treatment provider with licensed therapists who
00:15:43
specialize in ERP therapy, the most effective treatment for OCD. Sessions are 100% virtual. They accept most major
00:15:51
insurance plans and they provide support between sessions when it matters most. To learn more, go to nocd.com and book a
00:15:59
free call. That's ncd.com. Approximately an hour after the gunshot was fired, the helicopter finally
00:16:10
arrives and begins a full aerial sweep of the neighborhood. But Joseph is nowhere to be seen. On the ground,
00:16:17
officers spread out searching for Joseph and cautiously prepare for an ambush. >> Uh, 4Runner.
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>> Gotcha. Contact the homeowners already. >> Bountiful police. Hi, Battlefield Police. Did you guys get
00:16:45
>> Oh, sorry. We're just looking for somebody in the area. Um, your home is secure. Didn't
00:16:51
notice anything suspicious. Okay. He's going to have white male, red shirt. You see someone like that, give us a call.
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>> Okay. >> Um, if you find them or see them or anything, give us a call 911. >> Okay.
00:17:01
>> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, maybe you're good. It's fine. Just make sure you lock your door.
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>> Who in the hell is this guy with us? He's >> driving me crazy. After more than 2
00:17:12
hours of knocking on doors and checking backyards, there's no sign of the suspect. Joseph's absence becomes
00:17:18
increasingly unsettling, and Sergeant Sheldon quickly recognizes what it likely means. If Star 9 can't find him,
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we have a totally different situation, right? Cuz he potentially could be any one of these houses. He could be taking
00:17:32
people hostage. He could have broken in and it's unoccupied, right? So, we have all of this [ __ ] that we're going to
00:17:38
have to filter through. Um, and that's going to have to take >> How many houses are we looking at?
00:17:43
>> Resources. >> Uh, I would estimate eight on this side, 6 to 10 on this side. >> At this point, Sergeant Sheldon and his
00:17:52
team are forced to consider multiple scenarios, including a barricaded suspect holding hostages inside. But
00:17:59
they won't have to weigh those possibilities for long because one phone call is about to answer that question
00:18:06
for them. >> 911. What's your emergency? My my family is being held hostage. >> Immediately after this, officers spread
00:18:17
out and quickly locate the caller nearby, Chris Samuelson, a father who managed to escape the house just moments
00:18:24
earlier. What he tells them is chilling. Inside the home, his wife, two daughters, and his daughter's boyfriend
00:18:32
are still being held at gunpoint, and Joseph is inside with them. With this new escalation, Sergeant Sheldon knows
00:18:39
this is now beyond the scope of a standard response and prepares to bring in specialized tactical support.
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>> All units, priority traffic. All units, priority traffic. We have information
00:18:52
from a citizen leaving a house. >> Oh jeez. >> All bountiful, return to talk. All
00:19:01
powerful swarm return to talk. >> Victim's wife, daughter, and daughter's boyfriend are all on the couch. Suspect
00:19:10
was sitting in a chair just behind the couch. >> Daughter has another daughter that was
00:19:16
sleep is sleeping downstairs that should be waking up in the next couple of minutes. Suspect gain access to the
00:19:21
house through an unlocked window in the basement. After SWAT teams arrive and are quickly
00:19:26
briefed on the situation, they begin coordinating their next steps, preparing to establish containment and open
00:19:32
negotiations with Joseph. But before a plan can fully take shape, someone is spotted exiting the back door of the
00:19:40
Samuelson home. >> Say female one side. John. >> Miraculously, the daughter who'd been
00:19:52
sleeping in the basement somehow managed to slip outside without Joseph ever noticing. And without realizing it,
00:19:59
Joseph's hostage count is now down to three. With that update, commanding officers begin reassessing the situation
00:20:06
in real time. They review everything Joseph has done over the past 36 hours and determine that he has shown a
00:20:13
complete disregard for human life and willingness to escalate when under pressure. Based on that assessment,
00:20:19
commanders make a critical decision. SWAT teams are authorized to use deadly force if a clear opportunity presents
00:20:26
itself. From this point [music] forward, the priority is clear. Protect the hostages at any cost.
00:20:33
>> Dial the [ __ ] in. Right. This is showtime. >> Okay. Dial it in. Make sure we are
00:20:38
squared away. Some cities in a press shut out. Do it again. So, we're throwing a bang as soon as the
00:20:48
door gets open. >> Okay, >> suspect. >> I don't know where we're going yet. Hold
00:20:51
on. >> Don't be by or do I need left? >> Everybody see this? Right facing east. Garage is on the right. That's where the
00:21:02
man door is going to be. That's going to be our secondary. Okay. Front door opens
00:21:06
in. This is the living room we got set up. This is the kitchen area. Okay, everybody.
00:21:12
>> Wrong side on that. >> Yep. Wrong side of that. on this side. >> All right, fell bre. We're going to
00:21:15
practice to the right behind the stairs. >> Wait, if daughter snuck out window, that
00:21:20
means the bottom window is open, right? >> This is the fastest way to get this fast.
00:21:25
>> It's the fastest way. We have a flashbang. We're going to reset his loop and come in. Let's keep practicing.
00:21:30
Wherever he's at in this room, you guys are going to [ __ ] >> two banks. >> Two banks.
00:21:35
>> Want to do two bangs? >> No, one bank. >> Just one. >> Just one bank. >> With deadly force authorized, a
00:21:40
coordinated plan is put into motion. one designed to end the threat and extract the hostages safely. A sniper will be
00:21:48
positioned nearby, ready to take Joseph out if he's exposed, and a clear shot presents itself. At the same time,
00:21:55
negotiators will make contact with Joseph, work to slow him down, gain compliance, and convince him to release
00:22:02
the hostages, and surrender peacefully. If that fails, they have one secondary objective. Get Joseph to step outside
00:22:11
because if he does, even briefly, it could create the opening the sniper needs. With three innocent lives at
00:22:19
risk, there's no room for error. One wrong move and everything ends tragically. We're good. Thanks, man.
00:22:40
The officer assigned as the sniper is Jared Tadahara, a long-erving police officer who moved from patrol and street
00:22:47
crime work into a specialized SWAT sniper role. After arriving on scene, Tadhara conducts a quick tactical
00:22:54
assessment and moves into a nearby house facing the Samson home. From here, he has a clear view of the backside of the
00:23:02
house, a position that allows observation without being easily visible to the suspect and provides a safe
00:23:08
distance to avoid interfering with perimeter officers. But Tadihara isn't working alone. Every sniper has a
00:23:15
spotter, a second officer responsible for range calculations, wind assessments, and most critically,
00:23:21
confirming that the shot is clear before Tadihara pulls the trigger. Across the street, negotiations continue. For the
00:23:30
past 3 hours, officers have been trying to reason with Joseph, urging him to surrender and release the hostages. But
00:23:37
Joseph refuses. He won't let anyone go and threatens to kill the entire family if officers attempt to force entry. With
00:23:45
three people at fatal risk, a precise sniper shot becomes the only way to end the standoff before it turns deadly. But
00:23:54
before officer Tadhara gets that opportunity, he receives crucial information that makes things a lot more
00:24:01
risky. >> Difference in suspect. Suspect appears to have shorter wider mouth. Okay. Slightly rounded face.
00:24:18
must actually go to the same thing. >> Unfortunately for Tatahara, the situation just became far more
00:24:28
complicated. One of the hostages inside is a male who closely resembles Joseph. One wrong shot and an innocent person
00:24:38
could be killed. With that in mind, Tadhara shifts his position to a different house across the street. He
00:24:44
needs an angle facing the front door of the Samson's home. The shot at this distance travels roughly 75 to 100 ft
00:24:53
and takes less than a second from decision to impact. At the same time, negotiators reassess their approach.
00:25:00
What's been alarming them throughout the standoff is that Joseph hasn't made any
00:25:04
traditional demands. He didn't ask for money, car, or safe passage. Instead, he's simply refusing to let anyone go.
00:25:13
That behavior begins to make sense once investigators provide more insight into Joseph's condition. According to them,
00:25:19
his mental state has been deteriorating for hours. He's been heavily using drugs
00:25:24
for days. His thinking is no longer rational or strategic, and his behavior is increasingly volatile. Most
00:25:31
concerning of all, Joseph isn't releasing the hostages or surrendering. His endgame appears to be killing people
00:25:38
he blames for all his problems, then forcing police to kill him or take his own life. Because of this assessment,
00:25:46
SWAT officers remain positioned far back to avoid provoking him. Negotiators then
00:25:51
ask Joseph to step outside the front door with the hostages to prove they're still alive. If he does, it will give
00:25:57
Tadhara a clear view and [music] a chance to take the shot. It takes time, but Joseph eventually agrees to walk to
00:26:04
the front door with the hostages while warning he'll shoot them if officers make any aggressive moves.
00:26:12
After 2 days of chasing Joseph, officers finally have a chance to bring his violent rampage to an end. With the SWAT
00:26:19
team nearby staged for immediate entry, Officer Tadihara prepares to take the shot. He stabilizes his rifle using a
00:26:26
bipod, a small stand attached to the gun, then lies prone, steadies his [music] aim, and slows down his
00:26:33
breathing. A few seconds pass, and then the front door begins to open. Out. Go, go, go.
00:26:48
Out. Out. Go. Go. Go. Go go go go go. >> I think we're good right now. >> Unless they start calling somebody this
00:27:14
door. This one. This door. One more. One more. One more. >> Police. Police. Police. Holy.
00:27:22
>> Got you. We got him. We got him. We got him. >> Hands up. Hands up, bro. >> I mean, I don't know. Maybe a piece of
00:27:28
his skull hit me or something. I don't know. You're good. You're good. >> You sure?
00:27:32
>> Yeah. You're good. Let me see. Let me see. >> Maybe a piece of his skull hit me. Can I
00:27:35
hit Something hit me? Can I point? Something hit me. Right. I see. I see. >> What do you see?
00:27:40
>> He's okay. He's okay. >> Grab him. Grab him. Okay. You okay? You got anything?
00:27:46
>> She's shaking. >> Yep. [laughter] I got you. I got you. Just hold on to me. Hold on to me. I got
00:27:50
you. >> Don't get me over. Okay, >> you're safe. You are safe. >> After more than 6 hours trapped inside
00:28:00
with an armed, unstable man, the entire family survives, an outcome that just minutes earlier felt far from
00:28:09
guaranteed. [music] At the front door, Joseph Manhard lies critically wounded. Paramedics rush him to the hospital, but
00:28:16
[music] despite life-saving efforts, he's later pronounced dead. Investigators later determined that
00:28:22
Joseph's actions were driven by a rapid collapse. His failed relationship and heavy drug use pushed him into
00:28:30
increasingly violent and reckless behavior. By the end, he wasn't trying to escape or survive. He was acting like
00:28:38
someone who had nothing left to lose.