Man used kids as human shields during standoff with police, records state
A man who held police at bay for seven hours on the roof of a Bessemer house is accused of using his two children as human shield and threatening to throw them off the roof.
Bessemer police charged Nelson Giovann Gomez-Orllana with two counts of willful child abuse, two counts of making a terrorist threat, resisting arrest and criminal mischief, according to newly release court records.
One week ago today, Bessemer police were called to the house in the 2300 block of Clarendon Avenue at 3:10 a.m. on a report of people on the roof.
When they arrived, they found Gomez-Orllana and two young children perched on top of the house.
Det. Justin Burmeister said the man refused to come down.
A crisis intervention specialist from Ryan’s Hope Foundation responded to the scene and with the help of a Spanish-speaking officer, tried to negotiate and convince the man to come down from the roof.
Live video of the event on Facebook showed the man hugging his children and crying.
Police said he had not been wanted for any crime at that point.
Charging documents against Gomez-Orllana say he told police he would throw his children, ages 7 and 12, off the roof if they intervened during the seven-hour standoff.
The child abuse charges also included the man forcing the children to remain on a rooftop for hours without food or water and using them as a human shield, according to the court records.
During the standoff, records state, Gomez-Orllana damaged homes by removing and throwing roof shingles and ventilation components, leading to the criminal mischief charge.
The terrorist threat charges stem from the man causing a disruption to governmental operations, according to court records, by diminishing their capacity to respond to other calls for service, and in activating the city’s Special Response Team and Crisis Intervention Team, weakening the department’s ability to address other public safety needs.
Eventually, Gomez-Orllana and the boys jumped from the roof and used a tree to access a second roof.
Bessemer firefighters were seen using a ladder truck to bring down the two children shortly before 10 a.m. that Saturday.
Gomez-Orllana was taken into custody and treated for minor injuries.
Gomez-Orlanna was booked into the Jefferson County Jail Thursday night and remains held on bonds total $69,000.
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