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Teen Killer Doesn't Realize He's Being Recorded

September 01, 2024 / 21:28

This episode covers the tragic case of Hollis Daniels, a 19-year-old who shot Officer Floyd East Jr. after a series of police interactions. Key topics include the events leading to the shooting, the police response, and Hollis's subsequent arrest and trial.

The episode begins with Hollis's initial arrest for a disturbance involving a stolen gun. Despite police suspicions, he was allowed to leave without a search, which later proved fatal for Officer East.

As the police conducted welfare checks and searched Hollis's dorm, they found drugs but failed to locate the loaded gun he had concealed. This oversight led to the tragic shooting of Officer East shortly after Hollis was brought to the police station.

After the shooting, Hollis fled the scene but was apprehended later. His demeanor during the interrogation revealed a mix of remorse and detachment, raising questions about his mental state and motivations.

The episode concludes with the court proceedings, where Hollis was sentenced to life in prison without parole, highlighting the devastating consequences of his actions.

TLDR

Hollis Daniels shot Officer Floyd East Jr. after multiple police encounters, leading to his life sentence for murder.

Episode

21:28
00:00:02
this is 19-year-old Hollis Daniels he just got arrested and has somehow managed to sneak a gun into jail you a
00:00:11
family at home yep kids pry old and this is where all hell breaks loose the moment this happens the entire
00:00:27
police station goes into lockdown as officer scramble to make sense of the situation they have no idea who did this
00:00:34
and how something like this can even happen Hollis on the other hand was by this time long gone and thought he was
00:00:42
going to get away with it but little did he know his heinous crime was being recorded every step of the way by
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hitting cameras now the chase was on to catch this cold blooded team killer you it's funny my mom called me
00:01:01
and said Reed are you okay there's been a shooting and uh they say it's you and immediately then I knew I'm going to for
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the rest of my life at around 1:00 a.m. on the 8th of October Hollis Daniels got
00:01:14
into an argument with his friends allegedly Hollis had stolen his friend Leo's gun and at one point even
00:01:20
threatened him with it as Hollis left the house that evening Leo called the police telling them exactly what
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happened and Hollis was pulled over at around 138 a.m. had the traffic stop you're about to see ended even slightly
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differently officer Floyd East Jr might still be alive to this day what's going on
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maner Police Department where were you coming from Bud's house we got a call about you causing a disturbance the
00:01:46
disturbance yeah over at your friend's house what's your friend's name uh Leo Leo yeah okay why is Leo calling us
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telling us you're messing with them I have no idea sir cuz I guess he didn't I don't know I don't know
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okay you have any guns or any weapons in the vehicle any drugs or anything like that step out here and talk to me man
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okay okay is that necessary sir yeah it is necessary okay just come send over here for me okay after stepping out
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Hollis tells the officers that he did get into an argument with his friends even getting thrown onto the floor at
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one point however he's adamant that he didn't steal anything from them especially not a gun the cops though
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aren't so sure and want to search his vehicle to prove him wrong you don't have a gun inside the vehicle you have a
00:02:35
gun on your person yes sir them down yeah them down you care if we search your vehicle yes sir I can't do for a
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you don't want us to search your vehicle yeah but not because I don't have a gun
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I just I just don't that it's not necessary I'm on my way home no it is necessary cuz right now you're involved
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in in an investigation that's why I'm asking if you have a gun in your car no I cannot put your vehicle for a gun yes
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sir okay then hang on to him I'm going to go there and see what's going on on that side I'll be back over here might
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as well just put him in the back of okay as Hollis didn't give consent to search the officers never ended up
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looking inside his vehicle it could have been argued they had probable cause but
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in this situation the officers must have thought it was a gray area and let it slide sources say that it's very likely
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Hollis did indeed have the gun with him in the car and that a search would have likely recovered the weapon and saved
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officer Floyd's life but instead Hollis was given a friendly sendoff and allowed
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to return back home damn he said I tried to kill him are you said that I said that yeah that's way told the other
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officer you can carry on with your night man get home safe buddy get some new friends the very next
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evening A call came in from a student saying that they'd heard a gunshot and saw another student holding a gun the
00:03:54
cops of course took this extremely seriously as they were worried that he might harm himself or others on the
00:04:00
campus so at 5:59 p.m. officer Floyd East Jr conducted a welfare check with his partner Texas Police Department we're
00:04:09
keying in inside Hollis was nowhere to be seen But the officers did manage to wake up his roommate whom they were able
00:04:17
to question about hollis's whereabouts hey what's up man what's your name Andy Andy is that who we're looking for no
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for holl I just woke up I'm sorry that's okay um what do you know about your partner that lives in this room down
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here PA Daniels hollus I don't know a whole lot about him really um I don't know I haven't I haven't
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really hung out with these guys a whole lot okay despite the lack of information
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though it wouldn't take long for the cops to find something extremely unnerving that confirms their suspicions
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there's a gun right here revolver that's CO2 unfortunately for the cops this isn't the weapon that they're
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looking for it's actually just a CO2 gun and the cops eventually end up coming dry on any real Firearms or evidence
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that one has been discharged here however they don't stop on their search and they instead happen on something
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that worries them even more probably is some drugs and parapo in there but we can't tell from Plain View so we'll just
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go ahead and seiz all all that and I don't what those pills are but there's another in there and E when I was
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looking inside this box it looks like there's a little bag with some marijuana maybe the cops found small amounts of
00:05:41
marijuana and a larger quantity of concealed in a bottle that was supposed to be for antibiotics according to his
00:05:49
friends Hollis had recently developed an addiction for and was illegally obtaining it alongside smoking weed to
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supposedly treat his anxiety if that that was indeed the case imagine how nervous he must have felt when he
00:06:03
returned home at 6:29 p.m. to see four police officers searching his dorm hang on what's your name
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bud what's your name Andreas no it's not no what's going on we've already talked to your other three roommates we
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know what they look like yeah that was a good try though hey stand up for me real quick do you
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have any weapons or anything on you interlace your fingers on top of your head this is the first of two searches
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that will be conducted on hollas marking the most pivotal points in this case from this point onwards he's never let
00:06:43
out of the officer's sight and he never retrieves a gun from anywhere it would later come to light that at this very
00:06:50
moment he had a loaded 45 caliber pistol concealed in his waistband a search should confirm that but watch what
00:06:58
happens when they start to Pat him down spread your feet out a little for me what's all in this pocket uh money
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money yeah I can take it out is it okay to just empty out all your pockets while we're doing this uh
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do you have don't move your hands do you is that necessary I'm asking you a question uh no I don't think s about
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that okay somehow the officers don't find the gun that'll be used to shoot one of these officers in just 1 hour
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from now but the cops are clearly still suspicious he gave a fake name and seems
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extremely nervous while being searched tentatively asking to avoid searching in certain places so what's going on with
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all the stuff in your room um I poot sometimes to say and I have a few people sir yours yes
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sir so you don't have a prescription for that's a lot of for one person while he's not in cuffs Hollis seems
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remarkably calm so while he's relaxed they ask him a couple questions about the weapons before they throw them in
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coughs I have oh oh oh I do have a I do have a pet gun but it's not loaded yeah we saw that too okay what do you use the
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CO2 gun for uh honestly I haven't even noticed down here uh back home we used to just shoot squirrels and stuff I
00:08:23
thought it'd be kind of fun but then I realized I got here there's not many squirrels here you know what I'm saying
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um then we also got a report of the gun there was no gunshot in here that's what we're told
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by who somebody that heard it so yeah oh no no no yeah I didn't no yeah I didn't
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I wasn't even here last night I was over my buddy uh uh 28th Street what time did
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did the shot go off cuz if you if you if you look up the police reports from uh officer what's his name it was Duckworth
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officer Duckworth uh we had we went through this whole thing did he Rite you a ticket or anything he didn't write me
00:08:56
a ticket he let me go because the whole situation was uh they they thought that I stole their gun and so then they went
00:09:02
and search my car you can look and I see uh you can look at his uh what time he pulled me over and I bet that whatever
00:09:09
time The Gunshot was reported won't won't actually because I that wasn't when the cops checks the reports
00:09:16
it turned out he was telling the truth and the body cam from last night's traffic stop backs this story up at this
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point the cops could start to connect the dots a kid accused of stealing a gun is now being accused of shooting it at
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Unity it could definitely be assumed that something's gone overlooked either way Hollis has been found in possession
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of multiple illegal drugs so the cops finally decide to arrest him what's the B and stuff you
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know I don't know we'll have to it all depends on the weight and how much of the pills there are to kind of determine
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the the cops then start a second pat down one that Hollis remembers vividly he says he felt the officer check just
00:09:58
millimeters away from the weapon but somehow never finding it Hollis was then escorted from his dorm into a squad car
00:10:05
where officer Floyd tragically missed another opportunity to stop what happened to him in just 50 minutes as
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Hollis sits down in the patrol car officer Floyd hears a strange noise I'll be C mail what was that big Thum oh my
00:10:22
my uh handcuffs that noise wasn't his handcuffs at all it was actually the sound of his gun falling down the leg of
00:10:31
his pants and hitting the floor as well as lying through his teeth he was even able to reach down and fully concealed
00:10:38
the gun back in his pants before finishing his journey to the Texas Tech PD when they arrived a 30-minute
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countdown full of tragic and negligent mistakes would begin to take place at 12 minutes 7 one of the officer says that
00:10:53
if Hollis continues to cooperate they'll remove his handcuffs if you cooperate with me we go and police cuffs off a
00:10:59
little bit okay and 2 minutes later at 14 minutes pass the officers make good on their promise and take his handcuffs
00:11:06
off 90 seconds later Hollis and officer Floyd enter a room to run through some paperwork and are left alone there is no
00:11:14
footage of another search taking place before or after they entered this room together at 7:44 p.m. Hollis asks
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officer Floyd three questions you family home kids PR old it's unclear why he chose to ask
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these questions there was no incentive and all it did was make him look like a complete and total psychopath like he
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wanted him to know the damage that he was about to cause and the lives that he was about to ruin 4 seconds pass before
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he reaches into his sock and takes a deep breath the shot echoed through the station alerting officers nearby by by
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the time they arrived Floyd was already dead and Hollis was nowhere to be seen assuming Floyd's body Camp to be the
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only camera in the room he grabbed it and fled with no idea that the entire incident had been recorded on this
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hidden surveillance camera despite the suspect being gone cops knew there could only be one suspect and they immediately
00:12:23
placed the campus on lockdown and began a 2-hour long Manhunt for an armed teen killer 658 the PD is not secure got an
00:12:33
officer down he's shot in our briefing room we don't know where the suspect went he's about a 19-year-old white male
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skinny what's uh blue jeans a believe a light colored t-shirt um he had muddy mud on his jeans
00:12:48
from the knees down blue jeans and a white T-shirt yeah and he's got facial hair can you can you relate the
00:12:54
information one more time yeah to our Sergeant so we can get all the perimeter units clear on we're looking for what's
00:12:59
his last name Daniels Daniel's last name first name Hollis after securing the area detailing
00:13:06
a full and proper description of Hollis and searching the campus for a total of 90 minutes Hollis was eventually found
00:13:13
and apprehended without further injury when he was finally caught he said cold-bloodedly that he was quote the one
00:13:21
that shot their friend he was found carrying Floyd's body Cam and a loaded 45 caliber pistol at every turn turn
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Hollis got as lucky as he possibly could have while Floyd got the opposite after
00:13:35
being caught Hollis also told the officers that he' done something up and illogical implying that he had some
00:13:44
remorse for what happened however a phone call to his family recorded at 11:14 that night showed that the only
00:13:51
thing he regretted was being caught I'm get on the phone with a criminal defense
00:13:57
attorney I was really ad do not say anything yeah the cool I haven't been saying
00:14:03
anything huh I haven't been saying anything really they but there's pretty solid solid proof against me and
00:14:12
problem I know I know that I know that I know that you think that that doesn't matter but I'm telling you
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just you know me car you know me I'm not going to say I was I supported someone who assulted me yesterday I said no he
00:14:27
didn't assult me all you know me I'm not going to say anything that they would jeopardize
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that I'm just saying I love you and you'll get through yeah yeah yeah it's my dumb fa that I
00:14:41
shouldn't have done this anyway I'm stupid hollis's demeanor in this call is frankly terrifying it's almost as if
00:14:49
he's talking to his family about the drug charge and not the first degree murder charge and the biggest issue on
00:14:55
his mind seems to be being kicked out of school this may be a little more extreme I
00:15:01
think that they're probably going to kick me out of Texas Tech High School and I think that they're
00:15:15
huh after this call he was taken by police to an interrogation room where it seems the reality of the situation
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finally hits him well you guys know the whole story what do you think is the the
00:15:28
most liking well I I I don't know the whole story hold on hold on I'm just I'm just
00:15:36
I know it's it's a bad situation I got it okay you know it's funny my mom called me and said read do you okay
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there's been a shooting and uh they say it to you and and immediately then I knew you know I'm going to De for the
00:15:51
rest of my life talking about of college you know what we got to figure this out
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first okay sir rightly Hollis isn't even trying to defend himself he knows he's done
00:16:02
something horrifying and is going to pay the price for it but the detectives are
00:16:07
still plagued with the question of why on Earth he did what he did so they ask him to recount the moment where he took
00:16:14
Floyd's life so I uh I got back to my dorm there was already police officers in there they busted me for uh in
00:16:24
marijuana and uh they took me back to the uh to the um to the station and I uh and I uh I just to my head I thought
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you know I can't have this third strike against me this is going to be it you know what I mean not thinking logically
00:16:45
and so I did something very logical and and regrett it deeply and I don't I don't know ever how I'll ever make up
00:16:52
for it okay that kind of cover what you're asking Hollis seems to be seeking approval from
00:17:02
the detectives it genuinely does seem as though he feels guilty for what he did as he's putting himself down and asking
00:17:09
the detective if what he said is enough I was uh taking back to the police station and something just clicked in my
00:17:16
head and I said I can't I can't I can't do this I can't go back like this but then I made a worse decision to go back
00:17:24
and do something that I thought I could see I'm just ready go to jail call my parents I really would like to call my
00:17:34
parents because they W to sick about me because this a the news he's stuttering repeating himself and all he wants to do
00:17:41
is call his parents Hollis is starting to shut down overwhelmed with shame regret and guilt the longer this
00:17:50
conversation goes on for the more you have to wonder what compelled him to take that officer's life in the way that
00:17:56
he did and you've got to imagine his power parents are thinking the very same thing hello this is Dan Hey Dad it's me
00:18:06
Reed re honey are you okay I'm okay I'm very safe I'm with some very nice people
00:18:12
right now and I'm in trouble and I messed up badly oh re re honey I love you so I
00:18:21
don't I don't even will be there tonight around 11 I'm shaking all over I can't drive right now
00:18:28
I can't drive now but I I I I want to come see you I want to come see you what what what what happened I mean
00:18:37
why why would you do something like there you don't know I I I do know and and it doesn't make sense and and I'm
00:18:48
sorry I'm sorry I brought this disrespect to my family I'm sorry I brought this disrespect to my family again God I'm so
00:18:56
sorry I don't don't be sorry it's not you it's my fault I'm you did nothing wrong I did
00:19:03
it's me and I think they they're going to put me away for a little while and there's nothing I can do about it I'll
00:19:10
[ __ ] you when I get there I love you okay yes sir I love you Dad 25 Al plus more because of other
00:19:20
stuff I mean look look that would be the responsible thing to do is to give me jail time and then maybe I can go up for
00:19:28
parle but that's just going to change not your problem it's just going to change how I have to go about what I'm
00:19:35
gonna do all of that's up to the district attorney's office okay and of course the District Attorney office is
00:19:41
going to give me something5 so so yeah okay you have anything else you want to say I guess not but hollis's motive for
00:19:57
all of this though would be the biggest mystery of all some say it was influenced by his addiction some say
00:20:04
that he had undiagnosed mental problems or a combination of the two at the end of the day it's all speculation and we
00:20:11
can only turn to what he said in court it doesn't make sense I thought I was stuck I thought it was all over I
00:20:18
thought this was an opportunity to go out to commit s there was no rational line of thought that I had he also told
00:20:25
the court that he wanted to go out with a bang and that he asked Floyd about his
00:20:29
family because he wanted them to be the last thing that he thought about it seems as though Hollis panicked he was
00:20:36
scared about the consequences of the drug charges and was influenced by drugs mental issues or something else to take
00:20:44
the absolute worst route possible after dodging three separate searches and almost being caught multiple times he
00:20:52
might have even thought that this was meant to be he turned a simple possession of Narcotics charge into a
00:20:59
first-degree murder charge and now he's facing the death sentence when asked why
00:21:05
the jury should spare him he said I think it's totally fair to say life for life but then on the other hand I think
00:21:12
about my family and the truth is I'm biased in my own favor I don't want to die not anymore after deliberating for 3
00:21:19
Days a jury eventually concluded that Hollis should serve life in prison without the possibility of parole

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 90
    Most shocking
  • 90
    Biggest twist
  • 88
    Most intense
  • 85
    Most heartbreaking

Episode Highlights

  • Hollis Daniels' Arrest
    19-year-old Hollis Daniels is arrested and manages to sneak a gun into jail.
    “This is where all hell breaks loose.”
    @ 00m 14s
    September 01, 2024
  • The Fatal Encounter
    Hollis takes the life of Officer Floyd East Jr. in a shocking turn of events.
    “The shot echoed through the station.”
    @ 11m 56s
    September 01, 2024
  • Hollis' Confession
    During interrogation, Hollis reveals his thoughts leading to the tragic shooting.
    “I thought I was stuck, I thought it was all over.”
    @ 20m 15s
    September 01, 2024

Episode Quotes

  • I'm going to for the rest of my life.
    Teen Killer Doesn't Realize He's Being Recorded
  • I can't have this third strike against me, this is going to be it.
    Teen Killer Doesn't Realize He's Being Recorded
  • I brought this disrespect to my family.
    Teen Killer Doesn't Realize He's Being Recorded
  • I think it's totally fair to say life for life.
    Teen Killer Doesn't Realize He's Being Recorded

Key Moments

  • Gun Sneak-In00:08
  • Police Lockdown00:27
  • Argument Escalates01:11
  • Officer Down12:02
  • Life Sentence21:23

Tension Over Time

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown