A 63-year-old woman hid in a bathroom while SWAT officials negotiated with a teenager who held her family hostage in their DeKalb County home early Monday.
“It hasn’t really hit me yet,” Cecelia Jackson told Channel 2 Action News. “I think once I sit down, I’ll probably fall apart.”
Authorities arrived at Jackson’s house about 8:30 a.m. after getting a call about an armed person. They learned a 15-year-old boy tried to break into a vehicle in the driveway of the home.
In the middle of the break-in, a neighbor saw the teen and notified Jackson’s husband, who told his son someone was trying to break into his car, according to a DeKalb police report.
The son went outside to check. According to the report, the teen drew a handgun on the son and asked, “Where the money at?”
The teen pushed the son onto the car, made him unlock his phone and forced him inside the residence, police said.
The two went upstairs to the homeowner’s bedroom, where the teen told the homeowner and his son to take him to an ATM. He planned to force them to clear out their bank accounts, according to the report.
Jackson, who was asleep at the time, said the noise from the confrontation woke her.
“I heard the commotion, I looked out the door, and I saw (the teen) going down the stairs following my son and husband with the shotgun,” she told Channel 2.
Credit: JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM
Credit: JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM
The father, son and teen were about to walk out of the home when the teen saw police lights flashing through the window and got distracted, police said.
That’s when the father and son ran out of the home, and the teen ran toward the kitchen.
Jackson was left inside, police said.
She grabbed her cellphone and the house phone and locked herself inside a bathroom, where she heard the teen on the phone with his parents.
“I heard him tell his dad he was going to jail today,” Jackson said.
The teen was taken into custody just before 12:30 p.m. on charges of kidnapping and aggravated assault. His name will not be released because of his age, authorities said.
The teen’s parents asked Jackson and her family to forgive their son, who they said was already on probation for car thefts.
“Please, please forgive him,” the teen’s father, Cedric Remseur, told Channel 2. “He’s 15 years old. He’s been going through a lot.”
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