The Baltimore man who held his estranged wife hostage in her SUV on a dirt road outside Bel Air for more than 12 hours shot and wounded her and was in turn killed by members of the Harford County Sheriff’s Office tactical team, the agency said Wednesday.
Luis Arturo Hernandez Jr., 37, of Baltimore, was killed shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday morning by deputies with the Sheriff’s Office Special Response Team after he shot his wife, Jamie Nicole Campbell, 28, in the stomach, according to a release from the agency. Campbell was airlifted from the scene and taken to the University of Maryland R Cowley Adams Shock Trauma Center, where she remained in serious condition Wednesday evening, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The deputies involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave per agency policy pending a review of the incident, the Sheriff’s Office said. The names and regular duty assignments of tactical operators are not made public, also per agency policy.
The shooting capped a 12-hour long standoff with police which began when Campbell was reported missing by her mother, and deputies located her car via its OnStar system on a dirt road off Cedar Lane in Creswell. Approaching deputies were “warned off” by Hernandez, according to an initial Sheriff’s Office statement on the incident, and Campbell called out to officers that he was armed.
Sheriff’s Office crisis negotiators were in contact with Hernandez throughout the night, according to agency spokesman Edward Hopkins, engaging in unsuccessful attempts to get him to surrender. The standoff escalated after Hernandez began forcing Campbell to call family members to “say goodbye on his behalf,” Hopkins said.
Victim services personnel stationed with those family members alerted deputies on the scene, and SRT members were authorized to approach the vehicle in an attempt to both protect Campbell and prevent Hernandez from taking his own life.
Hopkins emphasized that the phone calls were sufficient reason for tactical operators to approach the vehicle, deputies initially hoped to also save the life of Hernandez, who he said had exhibited a history of behavioral issues in addition to past domestic violence incidents.
“In order to shoot someone, we have to have a threat,” Hopkins said. “Even though a hostage situation implies a threat, until he actually displays a threat, we can’t just arbitrarily shoot him.”
“Our job really is to rescue both people,” he added.
Well who didn’t know that was going to be the end result, unbelievable, this is sure to go into the same file as snowball gate. OK, I need help, I call police, I get shot.
What are you talking about? He kidnapped his wife, barricaed himself with her and a gun inside a vehicle for something like 12 hours, told his wife to call family to say goodbye, then shot her in the stomach before getting killed police. I guess I missed the part where he “called for help.”
And the idiot in the snowball stand decided to get completely f*ed up on drugs, assaulted multiple people, tore up two stores, broke into a third business, and then attacked a deputy before getting shot and killed. The only people calling for help there were the people who got assaulted and employees of the businesses he tore up. I guess I missed the part where they got shot by the police.
Get a clue.
Does everyone who gets in a fight with a deputy deserve to be shot? Ever heard of going hands on or using things that won’t kill someone
Getting into an verbal dispute with a cop over a traffic ticket, no. Getting into a physical dispute with a cop over anything violently criminal, yes! What do people not understand?! Civilized/normal people do not fight with police, ever! The scariest thing about this whole situation is that you have parents these days drilling into their children’s heads to “question authority,” and all this don’t take #hit from anybody nonsense when they are ignoring the simple societal rule that you respect a police officer! If you disagree with a cop’s authority you have the right to your day in court! You don’t start a violent situation and question why it was met with an equally violent conclusion!
Questioning Authority is not the same thing as violently confronting authority. Please don’t confuse the two. There is nothing wrong with questioning authority – that can be the way change is accomplished. There is absolutely something wrong with violently confronting anyone who disagrees with you – authority figure or not.
I would agree there is nothing wrong with questioning authority but as a civilized member of society one should know what is proper “questioning” of authority and what is stomping on the toes of those in authoritative positions and acting outraged and indignant when there is a reaction. As a mentioned before, there is a judicial system in this country, which remains the proper outlet for questioning authority, asking questions and fighting for change. What is a matter of concern for me are the parents who teaches their kids to “always question authority” and to distrust the police because they are setting their kids up with a dangerous sense of impermeability and self-righteousness that may one day result in their being on the receiving end of police physicality.
Hedley,
You remain the dumb ass I thought you are.
Mark, I though you always used your real name? come on now.
Forgot to mention, I get shot by police, the people I call for help.
The shooting gallery at Trimpers in OC does not qualify someone as a sharp shooter.
I didn’t see the name Hedley mentioned in the article. Oh you must work in law enforcement. How else would you know how this situation and “snowball gate” were supposed to go?
Arron Cahall
Please fix the headline, it is misleading. The Deputies shot the suspect after, he, THE SUSPECT, shot his wife. Perhaps your readers would have been more satisfied if the husband killed his wife. These Deputies, all involved, did an outstanding job. Whether your tag was intentionally misleading or an error on your part, you have a responsibility to your constituents. Please fix this immediately.
I think it’s worded fine. Besides why should they cater to everything you want.
Hedley, you are an idiot. Every year thousands of women tragically lose their lives at the hands of crazy husbands or boyfriends. Sometimes their children are left behind motherless and other times the children are killed too. This is one instance where a life has been saved and the perpetrator won’t be able to continue to terrorize her or other women.
It’s a shame the police didn’t shoot him 15-20 times… good riddance you worthless slime ball! Kudos to the tactical team for handling this situation properly and saving that poor woman’s life.
I love it when you say “tactical team”.
Talk SWATy to me, baby.
Why won’t the police release the name of the deputies that shot this guy? Do they have something to hide. How many times was he shot? This causes the public to distrust the police. I also hope some posters on here are not police acting so joyful that 1 life is taken and another is injured. Do these sheriffs give each other a high five every time the kill or seriously injure someone, I hope not.
Don’t you remember Sandy the cop stating “Nice Kill” when the kid in the snowball was shot. The should answer your question.
This guy deserved to be shot they had no choice. The one they shot at the snowball shop is questionable.
Corruption, you need to get your head out of your a** and stop believing everything is a conspiracy. What goddamn good would it do for the police to release the officer’s name and how many times he was shot?? Our society has a serious problem where we start defending the criminal elements who hold people hostage, psychologically abuse, and then proceed to shoot them. When you put yourself in a position where cops are pointing guns at you, you might want to step back and reconsider the circumstances that put you there to begin with. Violent criminal behavior needs to be treated as violent criminal behavior, this p.o.s. didn’t steal a candy bar from a convenience store, he was staring down the barrels of the Sheriff’s Department Tactical Unit because HE WAS HOLDING A PERSON HOSTAGE AT GUNPOINT AND SHOOTING THEM!! If there is an element of society that distrusts police because of this incident, they obviously have the moral inability to distinguish right from wrong! Live by the gun, you die by the gun! Plain and simple!
This guy had a criminal record. How did he get a gun? Oh, that’s right… the only people in Maryland that can carry a firearm are the criminals. Law abiding citizens are denied that right. Does Jamie have a criminal record? Maybe in another state she would have been able to carry a weapon for protection against her estranged husband. Not so in Maryland.
Pfffffffffffffffttttttttttttt…………………….
The deputies were at fault here? BS. The jack ass with the gun was at fault. In my opinion the police went way too far in keeping this guy alive. If they ordered him to throw out the gun and he didn’t do it – then bam waste him right then and there if a clean shot without harming the hostage was possible. You put a gun in your hand and threaten to take somebody else’s life – then you are open game to be taken out. These people painting the police as thugs should be taken for pysch evals they are a menace to society.
Love the thumbs down and my Hidden comment due to low rating, that’s a flag to open it and read it, I’m sure those post get more attention than those that are not hidden. What a bunch of DB’S.
And if they open it and read it, more thumbs down.
Thanks for reading my post!
Good job deputies. This dirt bag had it coming. A long history or domestic abuse. Good riddance!
Perp dead and hostage in the hospital after 12 hours…. gee the only thing worse is if she dies.
Does the tactical team actually train or do they just throw it together like a posse on horseback?
I dunno, but I’m sure they train a heck of a lot more than you or me.
News Alert!!! Trimpers advises that a large crew of YMCA looking cops have bought ALL the tickets to the shooting gallery leaving none for the kids.
All of their training money has been redirected to pay for the leather seats in the new helicopter.
Maybe if you actually new this person like i do you wouldn’t be so quick to judge!
First, “new” is not the word you are looking for. Perhaps it is “knew” as in having knowledge of something. Second, are you REALLY defending the actions of a man who kidnapped someone and held them at gunpoint for hours and hours, whereby at any given time he could have given himself up? Those are the actions of a subhuman piece of scum – not anybody who deserves to remain a member of free society. He made the choice to shoot his hostage and the police, in turn did what they had to do. Good riddance.
Best wishes to Ms Campbell, THE VICTIM, for a speedy and complete recovery.
@ all readers,
Please don’t even attempt to entertain the likes of Hedley or the other liberal minded posters. They haven’t got a clue what they are posting and are obviously not in tune with the real world. They attempt to criticize the police when ever they can. I’m going guess that Hedley is not a police officer and probably couldn’t pass the background even if he wanted to. He probably has had some negative encounters with the police. I am going to speculate that he has never been in a life threatening encounter or even a fight. (Other than with his mother when she wouldn’t give him his allowance.) This still does not deter him from being critical of recent high profile police actions. He maligns the action of police officer at the snowball stand. Hedley not being a police officer would not know what that police officer at the snowball stand was faced with. You had a young man, for whatever reason,was extremely agitated and disturbed . This same individual had been involved in a series of criminal acts to include a reported attempted break in, and assaults on innocent juveniles prior to walking to the snowball stand. He then went in to the BP and acted so disruptive and threatening that the clerk had to lock himself in the cash office and call 911. He then proceeded to the snowball stand where he tore the door open and entered the closed business. The police officer, arrived unassisted and attempted to make an arrest. Based on the totality of the situation the officer rightfully produced his pistol to effect the arrest. The suspect charged the police officers. What Hedley and the rest of the liberal wimps who have never been in a fight don’t understand is that there is only one reason that a person would charge an armed police officer. That reason is that they want to disarm and kill the officer. That makes a weapon in the equation for the suspect. Good job to the officer and thank God he could go home to his family. The facts of the Cedar Day incident are still under investigation but I am quite sure that the officers acted appropriately and did what they had to do to abate the situation and get home safely to their families. God Bless them all. Maybe the Hedley type should just keep their mouth shut and turn on MSNBC and Bill Maher.
Told you the thumbs down really works, thanks for reading my post. You remind me of some big fat donut eating windbag, he should have waited for backup, what was the hurry to get him out of the snowball stand simp?
Sometimes you should just keep politics out of the discussion. People who behave poorly and have little of value to contribute to a discussion inhabit the entire political spectrum. I you follow this board, you will quickly see the evidence.
Surprised this Marc Eaton guy isn’t saying that it’s all sheriff Jessie’s fault
It is not Bane’s fault, command staffs fault, or the SRT Teams fault. It was the man with the gun who caused this. My prayers are for the Deputy who shot him, the lady who was hit and the family of the man killed. In a few weeks this thread will be long forgotten about. For the Deputy and the victim it will be with them forever.
I do now that the Deputy involved has help from the department to deal with this shooting. This was started under Bane and I will give him credit for that. I wish we would have had this when I was still working. Heldy, is a simpleton. Anyone who thinks we go to work and want to kill another person is seriously in need of mental health treatment. I want to meet you one day Hedly, you are on my bucket list.
Marc,
You are absolutely correct about this Hedley character. He is negative and a wise ass. Go after him. Your point about the deputies shouldn]t have to be explained, but in his case you have to spell it out.
Look, the hostage situation proves the best of our local law enforcement and it is not right to hijack this thread to another incident.
Having written that, I believe that a police officer has no more right to take another person’s life than you or I do. Certainly, they are asked to put themselves in harms way which the average citizen is not asked to do. That is what makes the job so much more difficult, and at times dangerous (though not as dangerous as say the death rate of commercial fishermen). The courts give the police more consideration in the use of deadly force than the average citizen – and rightfully so – but legally they must be in a life or death situation, either their life is threatened or they are trying to protect someone who is having their life threatened.
On the surface, charging someone would not stand as a reason for you or I to shoot anybody and neither would the reason of wanting to go home to one’s family. On the other hand, if someone breaks into your house in the middle of the night and they charge you, that would stand as a reason for deadly force.
There was a child shot by a police officer in Euharlee, GA a few months ago when he answered the door with a game controller in his hand. This was tragic and thank God these things happen rarely. What we need to do is celebrate things when they go right but punish severely when they go wrong. This will give us the ranks of the best police and will insure the faith of the public in what they do.