NEW ORLEANS — “I heard gunshots and I was really, really scared,” Joeella Bastine said.
Nine-year-old Joeella Bastine describes watching an eight-hour police standoff unfold right outside her window in New Orleans East.
“It was really scary,” Bastine said.
NOPD says it started with federal agents investigating an aggravated kidnapping and armed robbery suspect near the 7000 block of Lawrence Road.
The man allegedly fired shots at a federal officer, then barricaded himself inside The Willow Apartments.
“We walk outside and it’s just cop cars everywhere,” Joeella’s dad, Ronnie Bastine said.
During the day-long standoff, parts of the building were on lockdown, and other parts evacuated.
“They wouldn’t even let us outside. I couldn’t even walk my dog,” Bastine said.
A video taken by a resident shows a SWAT team climbing into an apartment window and pointing their guns toward the ceiling.
Around 6 p.m., NOPD finally arrested thirty-two-year-old Hector Flores without injuries.
NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick says safety is a top priority.
"That is so important that we want to make sure that not only our officers, our communities, but even the person that engaged in the gunfire is safe and well,” NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said. “Safety and wellness is really number one.”
Ronnie Bastine doesn’t feel safe and hopes his daughter never hears gunshots again.
“My moral concern is my daughter. She’s nine,” Bastine said.
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Video: Sources: Kidnapping, armed robbery suspect now in federal custody after 8-hour standoff ends
