[Tense music]
[Duran] Hey, put the knife down!
[narrator] In California.
[Duran] Let me see the kid.
[Tense music]
[Duran] He has a large knife to the baby's throat.
[narrator] A man takes his son hostage
and torches the house.
[Tense music]
[Card] I'm not going to allow that child to die
without a fight.
[Music]
[narrator] And in Florida.
[Marceno] They came in like ninjas;
they came from the rooftop.
[explosion] [Tense music]
[Kontinos] It wasn't a smash and grab;
it was calculated.
You kind of wouldn't believe that it was real life.
[Tense music]
[Kontinos] Get on the [bleep] ground!
[indistinctive chattering] [Tense music]
[officer] Get down! I'm getting in.
[Tense music]
[narrator] In California,
in the northeast of Sacramento city,
is North Highlands.
[Tense music]
[Card] The crime here, it's a little high,
a lot of shootings, a lot of car chases,
things that kind of keep us on our toes.
[Tense music]
[Duran] The graveyard shift,
it's a love and hate relationship.
It's dark, and you're just on edge,
but at the same time, there's that excitement
of all the crazy calls that are going on at night.
[Tense music]
[narrator] Deputy Duran and his partner,
Deputy Vicente Rivas, are investigating a 952 call.
[Tense music]
[Duran] 952 is an incomplete telephone call.
It was a woman yelling or screaming or something,
and that was about it.
[Tense music]
I'm just quiet because I just want to hear everything
And instead of knocking on the door,
I decided to check the windows.
[Tense music]
[Duran] She's walking back and forth.
[Tense music]
[Duran] Her body language is showing she's nervous.
It heightened my senses a little bit, thinking,
"Okay, what's really going on here?"
[strong knocks at door]
[Tense music]
[Duran]
[woman1]
[Duran]
[woman1]
[Duran]
[woman1]
[Duran]
[woman1]
[tense music]
[Duran] I'm feeling worried for these children.
I don't have a sense of his motivation.
I was still trying to figure out what was going on.
[woman1]
[Duran]
[woman]
[Tense music]
[Duran] As we're walking to the door,
I noticed on her back she has a large red bruise.
That told me that maybe there was a fight.
[woman]
[Duran]
[woman]
[Duran]
[woman]
[Duran] I was a little confused
because it was, you know, calm inside of the apartment.
You know I didn't hear anyone else inside there.
[woman]
Please, he's in there on the bed.
[Duran] There was a dresser barricading the door.
[Tense music]
It felt like he was not going to want to come
and talk to law enforcement
if he barricaded himself inside there.
[Duran]
[Rivas indistinctive]
[Duran]
[Rivas]
[Duran]
[Tense music]
[Duran] He has his baby in his hands,
and he has a large knife to the baby's throat.
[Tense music]
[Duran]
[Falconer]
[Duran] [Falconer] -[bleep]
[Rivas]
[Duran] At that point, it was a hostage situation.
[Tense music]
[Rivas]
[narrator] Police take the mother to safety outside.
[girl] [Rivas] -Get out.
[narrator] Where she's reunited with her daughter.
[Tense music]
[Rivas]
[Duran]
[Tense music]
[Duran] I'm feeling worried for the child.
[Duran]
[Falconer]
[Duran]
[Duran] The only plan I had in my head
was just to keep him talking
because I knew that if he was answering my questions,
he wasn't going to go ahead and create his own plan.
[Duran]
[sirens]
[narrator] Backup officers race to the scene.
[Card] As a supervisor,
this is one of those calls that I've always feared.
If I make the wrong decision,
it could result in the cost of someone's life.
[Tense music]
I'm walking in and hearing a very stressful dialog
between Deputy Duran and the subject.
[clattering noises]
[Duran] [Falconer] -Shoot.
[Duran] -Come here. [Falconer] -Shoot.
[Duran]
[Falconer]
[Duran]
[Falconer]
[Duran]
[Tense music]
[Card] Deputy Duran is doing an incredible job
of staying calm,
working through the roller coaster of emotions
from the suspect.
[Duran] What can we do?
[Falconer]
[Duran]
[Card] I didn't want to use the lethal option
because the baby's head and body
were shielding the suspect's head.
[Tense music]
[narrator] The situation is about to escalate.
[Tense music]
[Card] I hear a flint start a strike
along with an aerosol.
[Tense music]
[Duran]
[Tense music]
[narrator] The suspect has started a fire
in the bedroom.
[Duran] I couldn't believe that this was happening.
[Duran]
[Card]
[Card] The smoke is building. We can see the flames growing.
We are losing our opportunities
to help and save this child.
[music]
[narrator] Dispatch sends firefighters to the scene.
[Intense music]
[Hodge] It's around 3 in the morning.
We get called out...
[siren]
...it says that there was a subject
holding a knife to a kid's throat.
[Lemon] This call in and of itself is...
a once-in-a-lifetime type call.
You sign up to be a firefighter
to pull babies out of burning buildings
and to rescue people
and to do those things that you see on TV.
[siren]
[Intense music]
[Card]
[narrator] Outside,
officers find a glass door leading to the bedroom
where the suspect has started the fire.
[Intense music]
[Card] Deputy Oliver enters the apartment
with the fire extinguisher.
However, I'm seeing a thick, dense smoke.
Our visibility into the apartment
has gone down to zero.
[officers]
[music]
[officer1]
[Card]
[Duran] I just knew that a fire spreads,
and it spreads quick.
The fire department is on their way.
They're not going to be able to start the evacuations;
we're going to have to do that
because they're going to be battling that fire.
[Duran]
[officers chattering]
[Duran]
[Card]
[Duran]
[Card]
[Duran]
[music]
[Duran] It was frustrating, being pulled back
because you just want to go up there
and just start dealing with that situation.
[Card] We're unable to see or breathe.
[Duran]
[Card] I have to make the decision to retreat
and to back out.
[officer]
[Card]
[officers chattering]
[officer]
[Card]
[narrator] The suspect retreats into the bathroom
with his young child.
[Card] [bleep].
[narrator] But Deputy Card may have found a way inside.
[Card] See what we have to do to break through
into the bathroom.
[music]
[Card] I looked at the setup to the apartment.
I saw that the bathroom was attached to a wall
that separated one apartment from the next.
I'm going to make another entry.
I'm going to make a door through the wall.
[Tense music]
It's not a matter of can I do it.
It's I'm going to do it,
and I'm going to make it as big as I can
because I'm not going to allow that child to die
without a fight.
[Intense music] [impacts]
[Tense music]
[narrator] Firefighters arrive at the burning apartment.
[music]
[Hodge] You already know and
expect that fire to double in size every minute.
[Lemon]
[Lemon] What struck me is seeing a glow that runs
the length of the entire apartment complex.
I was like, okay, this is serious.
This is going to be big.
[Tense music]
These apartments have a shared attic space.
This thing has the potential to run
the entire group of apartments.
[Tense music]
[Card] Seeing the fire department running up...
[Lemon]
[Card] ...I start yelling, we need to breach the wall.
We need their help.
[Tense music]
[narrator] Card directs the firefighters
through a vacant neighboring apartment.
[music]
[Hodge] The apartment next door was a mirror image,
but we were potentially able to make access.
Through the bathroom to where the subject was with the baby.
[Card]
[Tense music]
[Lemon] As outside of the box as it may have been,
I was excited that we've got something that we can do.
[Tense music]
[narrator] Fifteen minutes after the blaze started,
firefighter Lemon uses a Halligan bar
to try and break through the wall.
[Card]
[Lemon]
[Tense music]
[Card]
[Rivas] [Lemon] -No, we can't see.
[Hodge] I ended up cutting through the electrical,
and so that killed all the lights in the apartment.
[chainsaw]
Quickly, the environment turns from a manageable environment
to a dangerous, rapidly escalating environment.
[music]
Smoke filled up the entire bathroom.
I couldn't see much more than two or three feet
in front of my face.
The chainsaw starts to bog down,
and then all of a sudden, it dies out.
[chainsaw]
[Card]
[Lemon] -Yeah. [Card] -Step out.
[Rivas] -Can you see? [Lemon] -No, he can't see.
[Lemon] Combustion engines that we have for our chainsaws
it's going to require oxygen for it to work.
We're losing oxygen in this environment
because it's been replaced by smoke.
[music]
[Hodge] It's not working.
I'm able to go out,
get it enough oxygen to restart the chainsaw.
[music]
[chainsaw]
[Lemon] What's hard is, in these situations,
any hiccup or anything that slows down
your progression seems like it takes forever
because time is what's mattering right now.
[music]
We're unsure how long they may still have.
[music] [officers chattering]
[Hodge] It took a lot in me to keep going,
but I knew what was on the other side of that wall
and I knew that we were the only ones there
that could make a change.
[officers chattering]
[narrator] After five intense minutes,
the firefighters break through
to where the suspect is hiding
with his one-year-old child.
[music] [officers chattering]
[Lemon] This is where things have to slow down.
[music] [officers chattering]
We don't know where this assailant is.
We don't know if he's waiting for us with a weapon.
You have to take that extra second
and make sure that what you're doing
is the right decision.
[officers chattering]
[Hodge] It's definitely an unsettling feeling walking
or crawling into this environment.
[officers chattering] [Tense music]
[Hodge] It's been maybe 15 seconds
that we've been able to let the smoke lift a bit in there
and at that point, I was able to see an adult,
and he wasn't moving.
[officers chattering] [Tense music]
[Lemon] I'm not sure if the assailant took refuge
in the bathtub and turned the water on
because of the heat.
He felt like that might protect him a little bit.
Either way, we don't know if he's got a knife in the tub
and he's waiting to lash out at us
as soon as we go to reach for him.
[music]
But we nudge him, he doesn't respond.
[Hodge] Now everything was game on to find that baby.
[officers chattering]
I'm able to notice a foot sticking out
to the left side of the bath.
[Tense music]
It took me a few seconds to realize that was the baby.
[officers chattering]
[Tense music]
[music]
[Lemon] He grabs the child
but immediately turns and hands it to me,
and I hold this child for a matter of seconds.
I'm not thinking good things.
Nothing about the way this baby is acting
is making me think that things are okay.
[music] [officers chattering]
[Card] Through the smoke,
we see two arms reach out with a lifeless child.
[officer]
[Tense music]
[Card] It was soot around its nostrils,
which was an indicator
that it had inhaled a lot of smoke.
I knew this baby was in a serious state.
[Tense music]
[Duran] The baby wasn't breathing.
[officer1] -Baby's right here. [officer] -This way. This way.
[Duran] I knew that baby needed to be taken
to the hospital immediately.
[officers chattering]
[Tense music]
[Duran] Firefighters and deputies
ran that baby out to the street side.
During that run,
the baby still wasn't breathing.
[officer] Medic!
[Duran] The baby was passed off to me at the end
and when I placed the baby on the gurney...
the baby was breathing.
I was just relieved. He could probably make it.
[Sad music]
[Hodge] Thankfully he was located in the bathtub
with the water running.
Potentially, the water helped him to avoid serious injuries.
[music]
[Card] It was a huge sense of relief,
knowing at least for now the baby is alive
and that we may have just saved the baby's life.
[music]
[Intense music]
[Hodge] Half of our job is done.
We still have the adult victim who is unconscious.
[officers chattering] [Tense music]
I knew getting that adult victim up
and out of the bathtub and over the toilet
and through the hole that we cut
was going to be quite an extensive feat.
[officers chattering] [Tense music]
[Lemon]
[music] [officers chattering]
[Hodge] We were able to drag him from that empty apartment
out to the patio.
[Hodge] Dispatch, Hodge. Male victim,
he's in the other side apartment now, first floor.
[music]
[Hodge] Knowing that we were able to rescue
not only the adult male but also the baby
definitely had us on a high. It definitely gave us a sense
of purpose of why we do this job.
[music]
[narrator] The suspect is identified
as Brandon Falconer.
He faces multiple charges,
including attempted murder and arson.
[music]
After 18 days in the hospital,
the one-year-old victim makes a full recovery.
[music]
[Hodge] After we made the rescue,
we ended up staying on scene for another three
or four hours at least. There was still a significant
amount of fire that had to be mitigated.
[Lemon] All said and done, it was confined,
just as far as fire damage, to just those two apartments.
But between like 10 to 15 apartments
are completely still gated off.
[music]
[Duran] I'm very proud of our team.
I was very proud to see that they were able
to come together and work the way they did that night.
[music]
[Card] This is by far the most emotionally taxing call
that I have ever been on.
[music]
I often think about how the child is doing.
I was informed that the child is well.
[Lemon] How often are people placed in that situation
where they have to make those split-second decisions
and it's not the right one?
But we were lucky enough in the situation
that it worked out.
[Hodge] Since this scenario was so different,
I think if all the pieces of this puzzle didn't align
as they did, we wouldn't have two surviving people.
I think we'd have two fatalities.
Definitely a few more minutes in that environment,
with the smoke conditions, I don't think the baby
would have had the outcome that he had.
[Tense music]
[narrator] On the west coast of Florida,
south of Sarasota,
is Lee County.
[Tense music]
[Marceno] Lee County has everything you could want:
beautiful beaches, palm trees,
and amazing weather.
[music]
To our south, we have Miami, straight through to Tampa,
and sometimes we will see people target our county
because, again, it's right between big cities,
and they come over here, and will commit big crimes.
[Tense music]
[phone ringing]
[911]
[victim]
[911]
[victim]
[Tense music]
[rewinding tape]
[Tense music]
[narrator] Under cover of darkness,
thieves break into a jewelry store.
Their target: over $80,000 worth of gold and jewels.
[music]
[Semiklose] I've never seen anything like it,
caught on video.
[music]
Two guys working together to do a jewelry heist,
it's something out of the movies.
[Intense music]
[Marceno] They knew how to get through a rooftop.
They knew when they landed inside that business
exactly where the safe was.
[music]
[Semiklose] They ripped the alarm system off the wall.
You can actually see the spark, electricity pop
because the alarm system is still powered.
[music]
[tense music]
[Semiklose] They know that they've set off the alarm.
They're waiting on the roof for law enforcement arrival
or if the business owner comes to check out things.
[music]
[narrator] Forty-five minutes after the break-in,
the owner is still oblivious to the robbery.
[music]
Satisfied the coast is clear, the thieves creep back in.
[music]
[Semiklose] Commercial-grade safes have tamper alarms.
These alarms are going to prevent access
through the front door...
[music]
so cutting the safe was a faster option.
[intense music]
The problem with breaking into a safe
is the outside layer is hardened steel.
[music]
The second layer is an insulating layer,
it's fire-resistant and almost like concrete.
[music]
Then the last layer is another layer of hardened steel.
[music]
All these layers together,
these are about four inches thick.
[music]
The burglars brought with them
their own acetylene tank and oxygen tank.
[music]
[narrator] They connect a hose to the tanks,
allowing the gases to mix and ignite the blowtorch.
[music]
[Semiklose] That torch isn't something
that you just learn overnight.
[Intense music]
[Marceno] This is not a crime of opportunity;
they put a lot of time and effort
into committing this burglary.
[music]
[Semiklose] Each person has their role.
One burglar is cutting the safe...
[music]
the other guy takes the time to flood the floor
to prevent any fires.
They are professionals.
[music]
[Marceno] These thieves did a lot of work
to make their perfect hit on this jewelry store.
[music]
[narrator] After 25 minutes,
the thieves break through the first layer of steel.
[hammer drill on]
[Semiklose] They then use a hammer drill
to hammer out the fire-resistant material.
[music]
[narrator] To crack the final layer,
the burglars need intense heat
[music]
which is a problem.
[Semiklose] Steel has a unique thermal property;
gold does not have as high a melting point,
so the likelihood that they're going to damage
the gold as they're heating the steel wall is pretty high.
[music]
[narrator] Pouring water onto the metal
lowers the temperature
protecting the precious gold inside.
[music]
[Semiklose] They are going step by step;
they're not rushed.
[music]
[Marceno] It hits you more to know that someone
did their homework and they premeditated
and planned in order to commit their crimes.
[narrator] In less than an hour,
the thieves have breached the safe's thick walls,
but the store owner has finally woken up
to raise the alarm.
[victim]
[911]
[victim]
[Semiklose] The jewelry store
actually had two security systems.
[Tense music] [rewinding tape]
[Tense music]
They cut all the lines to the primary system,
but the second system, the backup system,
alerted the store owners to be able to see somebody
breaking into the safe of their business.
[Tense music]
[officer]
[Tense music]
[narrator] The burglars don't know it,
but as they raid the safe, the police are on their way.
[music] [sirens]
[Semiklose] They're pulling gold chains out;
they're pulling out loose gemstones,
gold bracelets, necklaces, pendants.
They're loading it into their duffle bag.
[music]
[Marceno] You don't know how quickly they are moving;
timing is everything.
Just one thing is off,
and we can lose our suspects.
[music]
[narrator] With no lights or sirens,
Deputy Kontinos races to the scene.
[Kontinos] The element of surprise
is definitely important.
We don't want to alert them to our presence.
This kind of scale of crime and burglary
doesn't happen very often,
especially ones that you catch in the act.
[officerF]
[officer]
[Kontinos] I am the second or third deputy that's arriving.
I'm trying to analyze what's going on.
If they're on the roof right now,
where are they going to jump down,
and where are they going to go from there?
[music] [officers chattering]
It's definitely quiet, and it's very dark.
As I'm searching the parking lot, it does feel very eerie.
Myself and another deputy make our way around the back.
[music]
As we're approaching, I see one subject jump off the roof.
[Kontinos]
[Intense music]
It was happening very fast.
Let's go, let's go.
[music] [rapid footsteps]
[officer]
[Kontinos]
[Kontinos] He does not have any stolen merchandise on him,
but that's not really my concern.
[911]
[Kontinos] The second subject is still on the roof.
[Intense music]
[Kontinos]
[officer]
[Burglar] -Quê? [officer] -I'm talking to you.
[foreign dialogue]
[Burglar]
[Kontinos]
He was uncooperative,
but there's multiple subjects,
and at this point, we've only caught one.
[music]
[Kontinos]
[officer]
[Tense music]
[narrator] Suddenly,
the second suspect takes off running.
[music]
[officer]
[Kontinos]
[music]
[sirens] [Tense music]
[narrator] The suspect vanishes
into a thick wooded area.
[officer]
[Kontinos]
[Kontinos] The most important part of foot pursuit
is maintaining a visual on the suspect.
[Kontinos]
[Kontinos] Once he enters the woods,
it's very hard to keep eyes on him.
The whole situation was very high risk at that time.
[911]
[music]
[narrator] With the second suspect no longer in sight,
officers call in air support.
[Tim] I've been part of the aviation unit
for two years.
Pretty much if you weren't sitting in a helicopter,
it would feel like you're playing a video game.
I've played video games all my life;
I'm a bit of a computer nerd, so it just kind of felt like
this is what I was meant to do in this agency.
We have people that are here day, night,
every day of the week, 24/7.
Call that's in progress,
that's always a more exciting call.
[music]
[officer]
[Tim] - 2-4-1, chopper 3. [officer] - 3, go ahead.
[Tim]
[Tim] My job is to operate the camera and work the radio,
relaying everything to units on the ground.
[music]
[officer]
[Tim]
[officer]
[Marceno] Our helicopter is up with heat-seeking images.
[Tim]
[music]
[Marceno] No matter where someone hides,
we can see in the pitch black exactly where that person is.
[Intense music]
[officer]
[music]
[Tim]
Finding someone on the camera is always a good feeling,
especially when we find them that quickly.
[officer]
[Tim]
[music]
[Tim] This is southwest Florida
we do have alligators.
I have seen alligators in that water several times
so he is definitely desperate to get away.
[music]
[Tim]
[music]
[officer]
[Tim]
The easiest way is probably going to be...
oh there's a canal there too?
[Tim] Due to where he was,
it was not something that they were able to drive over to.
I was concerned that he was going to end up
trying to hide deeper into the woods.
[Tim]
[911]
[Tim] Signal zero is an armed suspect.
Seeing him walking, I couldn't see any weapons.
Cameras can see in the dark,
but they can't see through clothing,
so if he's concealing something,
it's always a concern.
[Tim]
[officer]
[Tim]
[music]
[Tim] I am the only person that can see this subject.
If I lose vision of whoever that is,
my stress level immediately goes up.
It's a lot of pressure.
[Intense music]
[Tim]
[officer] - Ok.
[Tim]
[Tense music]
[Tim] There are no lights; there is nothing back there.
It's pure dark, so giving them a countdown
is the easiest way that just works in the dark.
People can do it with their eyes closed.
[Intense music]
[Kontinos] Is he armed?
Is he going to fight back, or is he just going to run?
[music]
What is he willing to do?
[music]
[Tim] This is crunch time.
It's either going to go really bad,
or they're going to end up finding him.
[music]
[Tim]
[music increases]
[Tim]
[music]
[officer]
[melancholic music]
[narrator] Police search the second suspect.
He doesn't have the gold, but when they arrest him,
they uncover an important clue.
[music]
[Tim]
[officer]
[Tim]
[911]
[music]
[Kontinos] The red shoes
were a valuable piece of information.
As we were reviewing the security cam footage,
there were two suspects in all black,
and one of them had red shoes.
[music]
[Kontinos]
[officers]
[Kontinos]
[officers]
[Tim] There is a third subject still out somewhere hiding.
[music]
[narrator] Police believe this third suspect
has the jewelry.
[music]
[Kontinos] The scene was still unraveling at that time.
It wasn't going to be over till we got all three of them.
[music]
[Tense music]
[narrator] The third suspect with red sneakers
and the stolen jewelry has vanished.
[music]
[Tim] He has a significant head start,
given that we had been following the second subject.
[Tim]
[911]
[Intense music]
[Kontinos] I set my sights back on the business.
[music]
[narrator] Kontinos returns to the scene of the crime
to track down the third suspect.
[music]
[officer] -Sheriff's Office. [Kontinos] -Sheriff's Office.
[music]
Looks like I'm clear.
We got an opening in the roof here.
[officer] Sheriff's Office.
[music]
[Kontinos]
[music]
[Kontinos] I immediately smell smoke,
a very distinct smell. It wasn't like a fire.
It felt like some kind of synthetic material
being burned, something like, very distinct smell.
[music]
It was very chaotic, very messy.
There was water all over the ground.
I saw the safe with a giant hole in it.
[music]
[narrator] The suspect is nowhere to be found,
but Kontinos does locate a bag filled with jewelry.
[music]
[Kontinos] It looked like we did not catch them in the act;
we caught them at the very end.
[music]
It was very surreal,
something that was so crazy you kind of wouldn't believe
that it was real life.
[music]
[Kontinos]
[officer] Dispatch, 2-4-9. Up to 21.
[Intense music]
[Narrator] Then there's a breakthrough.
[officer]
[Intense music]
[Tim]
[laughs]
[Tim] Knowing that their mode of transportation
was still here,
he's going to be around here somewhere.
[Tim]
[music]
[Tim] As we come around the container,
I can see that he's laying down...
[music]
giving up and surrendering.
[Music]
[Kontinos] Finding that third man definitely gave me a rush,
definitely felt like an accomplishment for everyone.
[officers]
[Tim]
[officers]
[music]
[narrator] After questioning the suspects
and studying the video,
police are confident they have all three suspects.
[Marceno] Suspect one, Carlos Acosta;
suspect two, Juan Lava;
and suspect three, Yabri Alfonso.
[music]
The suspects are charged with burglary, grand theft,
criminal mischief, and obstruction.
[music]
[Narrator] All three are awaiting trial.
[music]
Further investigations reveal the gang
traveled more than 150 miles from Miami
to target the Lee County jewelry store.
[Marceno] They come over here
because they think if they can hit quick,
get back on the highway, and get back across,
their chances are less of being identified.
[narrator] All of the Stolen jewelry
is recovered at the scene.
The gang was set to walk away with nearly $90,000.
[music]
[Tim] This was probably one of the highest-value cases
that I've worked. It just makes me feel even
more satisfied in finding these people.
[music]
[Marceno] This was planned to almost perfection.
What they failed at was doing it in Lee County, Florida.
We don't play games in Lee County.
The message is clear to criminals:
we will catch you.
[Kontinos] This was absolutely the most exciting case
I've been involved in.
[music]
[Officer] -Sheriff's office. [Kontinos] -Sheriff's office.
[Kontinos] It's kind of what kids think of when
they think of being a cop, catching jewelry thieves.
That kid in me that wanted to be a cop,
it definitely played into that kind of fantasy.
[Marceno] They came in like ninjas;
they came from the rooftop.
They were able to think that they could fly
by the night and vanish.
Well, the ninjas learned their lesson here in Lee County.
[Tense music]
In Ohio...
He's got a gun to the temple of her head.
In Maryland...
The suspects are going to fight or flee.
And in Indiana...
That is one of the strangest moments
in my law enforcement career.