Clinton County man describes details of being held hostage with gun pointed at head
Leonard Cox of Clinton County said a man wanted in the fatal shooting of a sheriff’s deputy was pointing a gun at his forehead when hostage negotiators were talking to the suspect.
“He grabs the gun, sticks it right on my forehead and he tells them, ‘Tell them where the gun’s at.’ I told them, ‘It’s right on my forehead,’” Cox said in a KSDK-Channel 5 interview as he described how the suspect had forced Cox and another man into Cox’s basement on Wednesday.
A short time after that, SWAT officers entered Cox’s home and were able to arrest Ray Tate, 40, of Kentucky.
Tate has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Wayne County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Riley, 38, on Interstate 64 on Wednesday just hours before Cox was held hostage.
Cox told the television station that police were able to track the suspect to the home in Clinton County because of the smart watch the other hostage was wearing.
Cox said he tried to follow all of the suspect’s commands but he figured there was a “really good possibility” that he would not get out of his house alive.
“I didn’t want to do anything else to set him off,” Cox told KSDK.
The suspect had fired off several shots inside the home before police arrested him.
Cox also said the suspect had told him that he didn’t want to hurt him or cause him any trouble and that he just needed a place to “lay low for a little bit.”
Before the police entered the home, Cox said the other hostage was able to escape.
Cox told Channel 5 that during the ordeal he was making his final prayers.
“I’m praying that hopefully I get to see another day and if I don’t … I’m praying, God, hope I’m good enough where I get to go to heaven.”
