Paralegal held hostage at law firm helped police negotiate with gunman
An ordinary day at work at an Oklahoma immigration law firm ended at lunchtime Monday for paralegal Jennifer McMinn-Shokat.
Someone came into the Farzaneh Law Firm and warned that a gunman was nearby. She and a coworker locked the glass front doors, then refused to open them and ran when a man holding a gun to another man’s neck demanded entry.
That’s when the gunman shot out the doors, beginning a four-hour ordeal for McMinn-Shokat, the Oklahoman reports. An earlier Oklahoman article provides more details.
She was hiding under her desk, but the man found her, told her to stand up and close the blinds, assuring her she would be all right, the newspaper reports.
The two talked as time passed, and, when the man agreed she could use her cellphone, the paralegal reportedly even helped the suspect negotiate with authorities. She also sent texts to let others know she was all right.
Eventually, Devin Rogers, 29, surrendered to police at about 4:30 p.m. He is being held at the Cleveland County jail on complaints including kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon.
He told McMinn-Shokat that he is from California, served in Iraq and Afghanistan and can’t get a job that paid more than minimum wage.. It appears that he may have selected the law firm somewhat at random and may not have had a prior connection to it, according to the articles.
“I actually bear no ill will toward him,” McMinn-Shokat told the Oklahoman. “I don’t believe he was necessarily a bad person. I believe he was more of a broken person.”
Two other people who were also at the Farzaneh firm at the time were unharmed, too. Attorney David McCullough, who works at another law firm down the hall, said he found out about the nearby attack from emails asking if he was all right. He blocked his door with a desk, then waited for police.
Hat tip: New York Daily News.
