A desperate 7-year-old Ohio girl, Oaklynn, was rescued from a life-threatening standoff with her father, Charles Ryan Alexander, who had kidnapped her from her grandmother’s house and was threatening to kill her and himself.
After a high-speed police pursuit, Alexander brought the situation to a halt in a parking lot, where he refused to surrender and continued to threaten Oaklynn, telling her, “I will shoot us both, stand back!” and “We’ll both go to heaven.” Oaklynn repeatedly begged her father not to harm her, saying “Please don’t” and “I don’t want to go to heaven today.”
As police negotiators worked to try and defuse the situation, Oaklynn could be heard asking her father questions, such as “How do you know we’re going to heaven?” and “I am going to heaven?” Alexander eventually responded that “we’ll both go,” prompting Oaklynn to shout, “No! I don’t want to go to heaven today.”
Despite efforts to reason with Alexander and calm the situation, he refused to back down. Eventually, police fired multiple shots, striking and killing Alexander. Oaklynn was safely returned to her family and was reunited with her loved ones.