The heart-stopping incident unfolded in Fort Myers when the suspect barricaded himself in the bathroom after police say he tried to start a fire in a nearby Popeyes and opened fire on cops.
Terrified customers and workers at a Florida McDonald’s were captured on video huddling in the kitchen behind a refrigerator as police confronted an armed man just a few feet away.
“Drop it! Hands up!” an officer yelled.
The heart-stopping incident unfolded in Fort Myers when the suspect barricaded himself in the bathroom after police say he tried to start a fire in a nearby Popeyes and opened fire on cops.
“The last thing we would want is a hostage situation. We knew there were people inside that building, so what we did is we sent SWAT team members in,” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said.
Once the suspect was cornered, a deputy told the terrified people hiding to leave through another exit, the video shows.
“They were running, and we were pointing to go to safety. Just ‘Go to safety, go to safety,’” Marceno said.
A tense, 2-hour standoff followed. When negotiations failed to convince 41-year-old Marlon Illescas to surrender, cops used tear gas to flush him out.
Miraculously, everyone escaped unhurt.
