“To the men and women in that mill: you have ten minutes to send out anyone who wants to surrender. After that, we’re coming in. Not as judges. Not as executioners. As the law. You made yourselves murderers. We swore to be sheriffs. One of those means more than the other.”
We just obtained a brief audio statement. Let me play it.
Sarah, talk about the sheriff’s strategy. Is this a siege or an assault? Murderers Vs. Sheriffs Script
Undersheriff, there are reports that the murderers have rigged the sawmill with explosives. Can you confirm?
That was released twenty minutes ago. No surrender yet. Malik, this is a high-stakes game of wills – murderers who have nothing left to lose, versus sheriffs who refuse to lose their county to fear. “To the men and women in that mill:
Right now, it’s a standoff. Sheriff Cruz has positioned sharpshooters in three locations. Roadblocks are up for five miles. But here’s the critical detail: one of the murderers, a woman named Darla Hicks – she’s serving life for killing a deputy in 2019 – was seen laughing from a window an hour ago, holding a sheriff’s badge. That has enraged the law enforcement side. Several deputies had to be restrained.
(somber, urgent) Good evening. We begin with a developing story in Blackwood County, where an unprecedented manhunt has turned into what authorities are calling a “rural war zone.” Six convicted murderers – escapees from the state penitentiary – are now in direct confrontation with a combined force of county sheriffs, state troopers, and federal marshals. For the latest, we go live to our correspondent, Sarah Chen, near Devil’s Creek. Sarah, what’s the situation on the ground? Not as executioners
That’s extraordinary. Why Sheriff Cruz specifically?
Showdown at Devil’s Creek – News Report Script