Jim starts to yell at us about getting off his property, his voice becoming more erratic and unhinged.
“We gotta calm him down or this situation is going to escalade quickly.”
“I agree. You head around to the back and see if you can gain entrance. I’ll make my way up towards the front door.”
“Okay. Be careful,” Maddox says before he slowly walks towards the side of the house.
“Where’s that boy going?”
“He’s just making sure there’s no one else in the area. Jim, why don’t you put that gun down and come out here and talk with me? I know you really don’t want to hurt Connie.”
“I do. I do want to hurt her. I’m tired of her shit. All’s she does is bitch and moan; whine and cry. ‘Quit drinking.’ ‘Stop smoking.’ ‘You’re worthless.’ Well, I’m going to show her just how worthless I am.”
Well, shit. This situation is escalading quickly and back-up is still eight minutes out. If I don’t get in there and get that gun out of his hands, who knows what he’ll do. “Jim, I’m coming up to the front door. I’m setting my gun down on the hood of the car. See?” Yeah, huge no-no, but it’s all I have to work with here. There is a hostage inside with a gun probably pointed to her head. Jim peaks his head out the front window and watches me set my pistol down. “See? It’s down. Now, I’m coming up the front walk very slowly. I just want to talk to you. Okay?”
“Don’t come inside, boy.”
“I won’t. I just want to talk to you through the front door. I want to see Connie.”
“She’s fine! For now!”
I get to the front door and peek inside. The rifle is pointed at Connie’s head as I feared. She’s crouching on the floor, curled up in a tight ball, and balling her tired, worn eyes out. “Alright, Jim. I need you to put that gun down. You don’t want it to accidentally go off and hurt Connie. You’d never hurt your wife like that.”
“Shows what you know,” he slurs as he takes a drink of whiskey straight out of the bottle.
The good news is that while Jim is talking to me, his hand gets tired and he slowly starts to lower the rifle. It’s pointing at a downward angle; still pointed at Connie, but at least not at her head.
“Jim, you’re gonna be in a hell of a lot of trouble over this. Why don’t you go ahead and put the gun down before someone gets hurt. Don’t make it worse than it already is.”
I reach down and slowly open the front door. Jim is watching me, but doesn’t make a play for pointing his gun at anyone, myself included. When I step inside, I notice movement towards the back of the house. Maddox is inside, too, and slowly creeping up on Jim from behind.
I make eye contact with my partner, silently communicating our strategy. He nods to Jim and then points to himself and then points to me, Connie, and the front door. He’s telling me that he’ll take Jim and try to neutralize the threat, and I am to get Connie out of the house. I give him a very slight head nod, acknowledging the plan, as Jim focuses his attention back on yelling at his wife.
I know that I need to get his attention off of her and onto me so Maddox can make his move. “Hey, Jim. Did you see the Super Bowl game a few weeks back?”
My distraction works because Jim looks over at me, relaxes the gun, and gives me a questioning look. “What?”
Just then, Maddox runs into the room, diving at Jim’s back. Jim senses the motion behind him and starts to raise his gun. I’m moving and diving towards Connie just as the gunshot rings out. The only thing I can hear now is the sound of Connie’s panicked screams. I land hard on top of her, rolling away with her body in my arms, away from the struggle going on between Maddox and Jim. During the forward motion of my body and trying to protect Connie, I crack my head on the coffee table and instantly see stars. My gut twists and I have to force myself to not vomit. My only thought is getting Connie out of the house.
As I pull her back towards the front door, I notice Maddox easily has the upper hand on Jim. He’s straddling Jim’s back, pulling both of his arms tightly behind him. The last thing I see before I’m out the front door is Maddox pulling his cuffs from behind his back.
Once I get outside, I keep moving, dragging Connie towards the squad car. She’s screaming hysterically, arms waving widely, as she tries to get away from me. “Calm down, Connie. You’re safe now.”
Connie instantly starts to settle, but I can tell by the wide look in her eyes that she’s still scared to death. “Oh my God, you’re bleeding!” she exclaims as she reaches up to my head.