After midnight Wednesday, a Dallas, Texas SWAT team used explosive charges to blast through a barricade. They managed to free the hostage but the video makes it look like they didn’t seem to be real concerned for his safety. The victim had to be treated for injuries, but more of them were caused by the attacker than the cops, and if they waited much longer it may have been too late.
Hostage at the Chevron store
What started after midnight Wednesday morning as a “disturbance” inside the Chevron convenience store serving the 7500 block of South Westmoreland Road, which is generally southwest of the interchange between Interstate 20 and U.S. Highway 67, escalated into a night of terror for employees.
Especially, for one clerk who got sliced, diced, and held hostage in the back office with a maniac. His day got worse before it got better when the SWAT team blew their way in.
When officers arrived, witnesses filled them in on the story so far. A man, later identified as 30-year-old Deandre Levels, “had come into the store and caused a ‘disturbance’ with several customers,” then left. He came back with a knife.
That’s when he “hopped over the counter and attacked the clerk before dragging him into a back office inside of the store” as a hostage. The manager “fled to safety during the attack.” Other reports add, “Witnesses said at some point Levels got into a fistfight with a clerk working at the store. The employee an into a back office space, where Levels allegedly followed, trapped him in the space and continued with the assault.”
Once the police were called in, the store manager was able to “give officers remote video access to the security camera system in the store.”
That was a big help because it allowed law enforcement to “confirm the hostage situation.” More importantly, they were able to determine “the location of the armed man and the victim.”
Both treated at the scene
Just before 2:00 a.m. the SWAT crew “detonated a charge that allowed them to breach the room.”
The criminal was blasted off guard and off his feet at the same time and cops carried both the hostage and perpetrator out for treatment. With the terrorist subdued and in handcuffs, everyone involved could breath a sigh of relief.
Following the hostage extraction, “the suspect was taken in for a mental health evaluation.” As reported by police, the unidentified store clerk “was stabbed several times.”
The Chevron corporation released an official statement in response to the unfortunate hostage incident. “We are aware of the tragic events that unfolded at an independently owned and operated Chevron station overnight in Dallas, TX.”
“We appreciate and commend the lifesaving actions of law enforcement and the employees during the incident.”
