Frightening moment kidnapping suspect attacks police officer with a pen in interrogation room
‘I think he began to feel scared and he’s cornered. I just know he’s not in his right mind. He needs psychiatric help,’ mother says
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Frightening footage captured the moment a kidnapping suspect launched at a police officer and tried to stab him with a pen during an interrogation.
Reid Duran from Fairborn, Ohio, was arrested for impersonating a parent and planning to drug and kidnap a child at an open house at a school in Greene County, WHIO reported.
The 35-year-old was arrested on 22 August after visiting St Brigid Catholic School in Xenia.
St Brigid principal Terry Adkins had called 911 to report a trespasser on the premises.
“I have a gentleman here that has trespassed into our school open house, asking questions and claiming to be the parent of a daughter. And he is not,” Mr Adkins said. “So I need a police officer to investigate and enquire. He’s posing a threat.”
Police spoke to Mr Duran in the parking lot of the school. He outlined various reasons for his being there before he eventually admitted to attempting to kidnap a child, according to WHIO.
He voluntarily agreed to join the police at the station to speak to officers, the local outlet reported. It was at this point that he was caught on surveillance footage attempting to stab an officer in the interrogation room.
The footage was released on Thursday following a public records request from News Center 7.
The videos show a man, who was later identified as Mr Duran, trying to stab an officer, identified as Nicholas Peters, with a pen before the officer pushes him to the ground.
“Put your hands behind your back now,” Mr Peters says in the footage. “Are you f***ing kidding me right now? Put your hands behind your f***ing back right now!”
He faces charges of attempted kidnapping, felonious assault, and escape, WKRC reported.
An affidavit states that Mr Duran subsequently revealed to an officer that he went to the school “attempting to find a small child to obtain sexual favours”.
He told law enforcement that he had planned to use a Starburst candy laced with a tranquillizer to kidnap a child.
Mr Duran appeared for a bond hearing in court on Monday. Prosecutors were set to request that the court deny the bond, but Mr Duran’s lawyer then asked for a continuance, which means that the suspect will stay in jail without bond.
Greene County Prosecutor David Hayes said: “We did not object because the defendant must remain incarcerated until the next hearing takes place.”
Speaking to News Center 7, Mr Hayes said prosecutors would continue to argue that Mr Duran should be held on no bond because of his kidnapping plan and because of his attempt to injure an officer.
“We have to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the weight of the evidence is great and the individual does represent a danger to the public,” he told the local station. “And we believe that is the case with Mr Duran.”
The case is set to be presented before a grand jury on Wednesday. If an indictment is handed up, the case will move from municipal court to common pleas court.
According to WKRC, officers said that Mr Duran revealed to them that he had planned on kidnapping a five-year-old girl. While he said he planned to use a tranquillizer, no drugs were found on him.
“Duran did make statements to the investigating detective claiming that he intended to give his victim candy laced with tranquilizers, but there is no verification that the candy found on him at the time of his interaction with the Xenia Police officers had any sort of drug on it,” police said in a statement, according to NBC News. “Duran did not give candy to the victim or any child at the school event. During the time period that Duran was at St Brigid School, he was never alone with the victim, and there were people in the kindergarten classroom, and the rest of the building.”
Mr Duran’s mother and brother spoke to NBC News on Friday. Both of them said that Mr Duran has been suffering from schizophrenia for a number of years, but that he’s never shown any signs of violence.
Roy Duran, 37, told the outlet that “it’s more self-harm, he’ll stop eating, get really paranoid and go into a corner. He’s very gentle and considerate to others”.
“The harm is always insular and against himself,” he added. The brother said the family is finding it difficult to raise the funds needed for Mr Duran’s legal fees.
The family noted that Mr Duran hasn’t been arrested before. His mother Melissa King, 58, commented on the surveillance footage to NBC News.
“That’s not like him,” she said. “I think he began to feel scared and he’s cornered. I just know he’s not in his right mind. He needs psychiatric help.”