Doorbell Cam Captures Man Pleading for Help After Reportedly Being Kidnapped
A California man visiting Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl was seen begging for help on a doorbell camera after being carjacked, robbed and shot.
KNXV-TV reported that Maricopa County police responded to a call that a man had been shot at 5 a.m. on Sunday.
According to a separate article from KNXV-TV, court documents say 32-year-old Anthony from San Diego was sleeping in his car outside of a friend’s home after getting into an argument with his girlfriend.
A man in a ski mask outside the car later woke him up pointing a gun at him, according to the Arizona Republic. The Ohio State fan was at a location 20 minutes north of the stadium where the Fiesta Bowl was held.
He told detectives that he tried to give up his car and walk away, but the suspect forced him into the backseat while two other suspects in masks got into the car. Anthony said they drove around with him in the car for over an hour, forcing him to make withdrawals at multiple ATMs.
Once the suspects acquired a few hundred dollars in cash, they forced him to get out of the car in an open field.
Anthony told his older sister, Michelle, that he heard the men whispering before they told him to get out of the vehicle and shot him.
“They told him to keep backing up, and pointed the gun at him and then they just said something about, ‘It’s over.’ And he said, ‘Just take me home,’ and they started shooting,” she said.
“It sounded like five or six [gunshots],” said Sandy Rees, a resident near the area of the incident. “Then I heard arguing and two more shots.”
Anthony made his way to a house across the street from Rees’ to the residence of Scott Sanders, which was only a few hundred yards from where he was shot.
“We heard pounding on our front door, and then after that, the gentleman ran,” said Sanders. Sanders had just woken up and was considering grabbing a gun when Anthony ran away.
Adrenaline helped Anthony hop over multiple fences to get to the next house with lights on. He was hoping to find someone who was awake and could call 911.
Anthony ran up to the house of firefighter named Jerry and pressed on his Ring doorbell just as the firefighter was waking up.
“Who is it?” Jerry can be heard yelling in the video.
“It’s Anthony. I’ve been shot,” the victim replied.
“Who’s Anthony?” Jerry asked.
“Call 911!” said Anthony.
“Who’s Anthony?” Jerry asked.
“Just call 911! I’ve been shot, I swear to God,” Anthony replied.
“Get the **** out of here,” Jerry yelled. Jerry admitted that he thought Anthony was on drugs; he thought it was unlikely that Anthony had been shot.
“The posture I took in that moment was to make sure my family was okay,” said Jerry. “I took a very pessimistic approach.”
The fireman called 911 and made sure that Anthony did not leave his yard or run to any other houses.
“I could tell, he was hurt in some way, shape or form. I couldn’t see any blood through his shirt, but I was starting to see it show up in random spots on the patio,” he said.
Anthony can be heard in the video yelling at Jerry that he was going to die.
“He told me he had been shot seven times. Obviously, I could tell that hadn’t happened, but that was his best guess as to how many times someone had shot at him,” said Jerry.
In reality, Anthony had been shot once in the back, where the bullet had hit his pelvis and ended up in his abdomen.
Police officers and paramedics arrived to the scene and took Anthony to the hospital, where he is now recovering.
Police were able to track Anthony’s phone to locate his car and ultimately the three suspects inside it.
Three teenagers have been arrested in connection with the crime, two of whom were minors. The third suspect was Roderick Smith, 18, who is already a convinced felon according to police reports.
Smith was arrested “on suspicion of armed robbery, theft of means of transportation, fraudulent use of a credit card, escape, kidnapping, having a weapon, and two counts of aggravated assault,” court records show according to the Arizona Republic.
Smith has allegedly confessed to the carjacking and kidnapping, but says that he only heard the 2 other teenagers firing the shots.
Smith admitted that he took somewhere between $300 to $600 from Anthony while they were driving to ATMs with him in the back.
Michelle, Anthony’s older sister, said that Anthony “feels very lucky to be alive but he is extremely traumatized.”
“I’m glad to hear he’s okay, I’m glad to hear he’s righteous dude,” said firefighter Jerry.
Anthony underwent surgery at the hospital and is now in stable condition, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
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