OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Almost one week after the deadly hostage situation at the Oklahoma County Jail, Oklahoma City police have released body camera and surveillance video of the situation.
In the video, you can see the jailer tied up, held at knife point and attacked by multiple inmates all before tumbling down a flight of stairs.
Police are not commenting on how exactly the situation started, but Oklahoma City Police Chief Wade Gourley does say his officers should not be faced with responding to such a volatile event at the jail.
“The Oklahoma City Police Department should not be a response team to deal with situations in the jail. That’s not what we’re designed to do but we had no choice,” said Gourley.
Gourley says it was around 4 p.m. when someone inside the jail first called 911.
In the 911 call released by police, you can hear a frantic woman pleading for help.
The inmate had somehow stolen the jailer’s keys and OC spray and had used the keys to let other inmates out of their cells.
The detention officer was then tied up and assaulted.
Video released by the police department shows the jailer stabbed in his backside and legs multiple times by an inmate.
“He does have a makeshift knife in his hand. You will see him strike the jailer in his head and then come around and stab the detention officer multiple times in the leg and buttocks area,” said Gourley.
Around 5 p.m., a hostage recovery team, made up of Oklahoma City police officers and Oklahoma County Sheriff’s deputies, entered the jail pod where the jailer was being attacked.
Just seconds later, officers witnessed the jailer being placed on his knees and held at knifepoint. That was when officers shot and killed Curtis Williams, the inmate holding the jailer hostage.
“What’s very concerning to me as I watch this is he puts the hostage on his knees in front of him and continues to hold the knife to his throat and that’s what the officers are faced with,” said Gourley.
During Friday’s press conference, protestors showed up at OKC Police Headquarters, demanding answers from Chief Gourley. They called for his resignation as well as calling the shooting excessive force.
“They have no choice. The officers have to go in. They have to try and go rescue this hostage because of the situation. We can’t sit there and watch him be brutalized anymore or possibly killed.”
Chief Gourley says he does not plan to resign.
“I’m not resigning when I leave here, I’ll retire. I’ve been a law enforcement officer with 32 years of experience and I’m not resigning. I’ve seen nothing here that would prompt that or why those calls would even be there.”
Chief Gourley says the investigation is still extremely early on and investigators are working to sift through interviews, video and evidence to piece together what happened.
