NORMAN, Okla. (NewsNation Now) — Officers in Norman rescued a family from their home after a suspect began firing in seemingly random directions, striking three homes and cars.
Police were first called to a home hit by five bullets, including one that went into a boy’s bedroom while he was in the room. Officers got the family to safety.
While they were investigating, the suspect started firing again with handguns and high-powered rifles. Police tried to talk to the suspect, but he didn’t answer.
“Often, you know, if somebody is just shooting recreationally, they don’t know what’s going on until I hit the sirens,” Lt. Marcus Savage, with the Norman Police Department, said on “Dan Abrams Live.” “Then the shooting didn’t stop even after that … We evacuated everybody we could.”
Savage and Officer Kyle Hicks saw a house near the back of the suspect’s property with an elderly man who did not hear the officers telling him to get to safety. They ran toward the home as bullets whizzed by them.
“The house was surrounded by a lot of really thick bamboo that was really tall so we couldn’t see any muzzle flashes or where the gunshots were coming from,” Hicks said. “We could just see the strikes on the ground. And we could hear them ringing off the fence posts and the cars. We knew we still had to get to this house, one for good coverage because we were being ambushed out in the open, and then to get to that family so we could get them out.”
“We had no other choice but to go forward towards where he was shooting at us from and close the distance and then get everybody out of that house in a safe place,” Savage said.
They found the man, who had trouble walking, inside with his daughter and son-in-law. Savage and Hicks then took positions on either side of the house for two and a half hours, trying try to keep the family safe.
Police sent up a drone and the suspect started shooting at it, That diverted the suspect’s attention away from the officers, who were able to bring in an armored car and rescue the family.
Police kept trying to make contact with the shooter, who eventually took his own life. Investigators found five guns and multiple clips at the scene.
No one else was injured.
Abrams regularly highlights police work and some of the incredible — and dangerous — situations officers deal with every day.
Watch “Dan Abrams Live” weeknights at 8/7c on NewsNation.
