Sponsored:
Chicago, IL – Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) has released bodycam footage of a hostage situation in April that ended with police shooting and wounding the suspect (video below).
The bodycam footage showed what happened when 19-year-old Marcos Malvais broke into the Near West Side home of a 23-year-old woman and took her hostage, WBBM reported
The incident occurred at about 6:20 p.m. on April 11 when Malvais dragged the woman into a bathroom in the basement of her home on West Washington Boulevard, and held her hostage at gunpoint, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The bodycam video began with an officer talking to Malvais from an upper level of the home, trying to de-escalate the situation. There is no video initially.
“Just let her go. You’re making it hard,” the officer told the suspect.
“We got a hostage downstairs. Sarge, he’s got a gun. He’s got a hostage,” the officer explained to his official a second later.
“Let her go,” another officer yelled at Malvais in the video.
“C’mon I can make it easy for you… it ain’t worth it man, I’m telling you. Come on man, please… just let me see the weapon man – make it easy. This ain’t the way to go man,” the first officer continued trying to talk Malvais down, but then a gunshot can be heard on the video.
“Shots fired, shots fired!” he yelled, as several officers begin making their way downstairs into the basement, where the video showed the victim had begun screaming.
Then the video showed Chicago Police Sergeant Joseph Menoni standing in the threshold of the bathroom, pointing his weapon.
The arrest report said that was when the sergeant saw the victim on the bathroom floor, and Malvais crouched in a bathtub, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Sgt. Menoni said he saw Malvais raise his arm and point his pistol at him so he shot him, according to the arrest report.
Four gunshots can be heard in the video as the officer made his way inside the bathroom, where Malvais was holding his terrified and screaming hostage.
Several officers crowded into the bathroom after Sgt. Menoni, and assisted him in arresting the suspect as he moaned in pain.
In the meantime, the hostage was able to escape from the basement to the safety in the midst of the chaos of police trying to drag the suspect out of the bathtub and arrest him, WBBM reported.
Malvais was arrested and transported to a local hospital for treatment, the Chicago Tribune reported.
He was charged with multiple felonies that included attempted murder, aggravated battery, home invasion, aggravated kidnapping, armed robbery, and unlawful use of a weapon, according to Cook County court records.
Malvais pleaded not guilty to the charges, and was being held without bail in the Cook County Jail, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Watch the officers rescuing the hostage in the video below: