April 5, 2021- 12:50 p.m
Inmates in an Oklahoma City jail took a guard hostage, beating and stabbing him several times before one of the suspects was shot dead, graphic video shows.
Harrowing footage of the March 27 hostage situation at the Oklahoma County Detention Center shows inmate Curtis Montrell Williams, 34, being gunned down while holding a makeshift knife to the neck of detention officer Daniel Misquez.
Misquez, who was bound and held captive for about an hour, is seen in surveillance footage being hit on the head and stabbed several times in the leg by a second inmate.
The guard was also pepper-sprayed with his own device, Oklahoma City Police Chief Wade Gourley told reporters Friday, according to The Oklahoman.
The chaos broke out after inmates complained about conditions at the jail, alleging they had no running water and weren’t being fed, KFOR reported.
“What’s very concerning to me as I watch this, is [Williams] puts the hostage on his knees in front of me, and continues to hold that knife at this throat and that’s what the officers are faced with when they come in,” Gourley told reporters of the footage.
The officers who shot Williams during the incident – which was streamed live on social media – have been identified as Lt. Coy Gilbert and Officer Kevin Kuhlman. Both remain on administrative leave as an investigation continues, Gourley said.
Protesters outside the police department Friday demanded Gourley to be fired for the incident as Williams’ relatives claimed he was killed for seeking better conditions at the jail.
“I knew Curtis for 34 years and I know for sure that he would not just go out and kidnap anyone,” his mother, Rhonda Lambert, told The Oklahoman last week. “Conditions in the jailed caused my son and so many other like him to lose self-control.
Misquez was treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries after being rescued, jail officials said. Gourley, meanwhile, is refusing calls to resign.
“I’ve seen nothing here that would prompt that,” Gourley said.
