Chaos erupted in a quiet Fort Lauderdale neighborhood as police nabbed an armed robbery suspect - in a local NBC reporter's backyard. Marissa Bagg of WTVJ found her personal and professional worlds colliding when Fort Lauderdale Police surrounded her home while hunting the suspect, as she captured the tense moment on her cellphone.
The drama unfolded at Bagg's residence, “We should probably not go outside,” the anchor stated in a video, according to NBC6. Initially, the police mistook Bagg’s husband, Oded Eshel, for the suspect. “I was on the phone, my dad was calling me in, I waved him off because I was on a phone call, and he said no, get in here now,” Eshel told, Adweek.
The suspect was wanted for an earlier robbery at the Star America Food & Deli. Surveillance footage showed him entering the shop around 11:30 a.m., pretending to have a gun in his sweatshirt pocket before making off with cash from the register.
After a brief but intense search, including the deployment of a K-9 unit, cops located the suspect hiding near the shed on the side of Bagg’s house. "Holy crap, you guys got him," exclaimed Eshel, in a reaction caught on video. The suspect was soon in handcuffs, with one officer telling Eshel, "In your backyard,” adding, “So your neighbor said he just jumped the fence and I saw you moving, and I thought, I’ve got him right here. Luckily your wife came outside, 'cause the dog was coming in,” according to the same NBC6 report.
Eshel expressed his relief following the high-stakes incident, “I’m grateful the police got here quickly, apprehended the suspect, that everyone in our family was safe. Everything turned out OK and you saved me from getting a K-9 (released) on me," he said, as per Adweek. The identity of the suspect has yet to be released by authorities, and no injuries were reported during the apprehension.
