Suspect Fleeing Cops Barricades Himself Inside Family's New Jersey Home

The family managed to get out of the home before the suspect could take them hostage.

Surveillance cameras captured the moment an alleged bandit fleeing New Jersey cops scaled a fence to make his getaway on Sunday.

During the chase, the suspect kicked in the basement window of a random house and managed to squeeze through the narrow opening. 

Albert Fernandez, 17, was having breakfast with his family when he heard the  window shatter.

The teen said the suspect was waving a weapon in the air “to show the police, ‘Don’t mess with me.’” 

"It was very scary, we didn’t know what was going on," Fernandez added.

The suspect had allegedly robbed a shopper in a supermarket parking lot at gunpoint and hijacked a car. After a police chase, he was cornered in a Lyndon, New Jersey, neighborhood. Police say he tried to hijack another vehicle and when that failed, he ran to the Fernandez home to hide.

A police SWAT team surrounded the home in Lyndon and got the family out before they could be taken hostage.  

Cops used stun grenades to try coax the suspect out, but he barricaded himself in the basement. After five hours of negotiations, the suspect, 50-year-old Willie Wright, finally surrendered. When he emerged, he had stripped off most of his clothes for unknown reasons. 

Inside the home, police found messages scrawled on the basement walls: “To my wife. I did love you! I'll see you next lifetime."

The suspect faces multiple charges and is due in court next week. 

RELATED STORIES

Latest News