In a kidnapping situation, it’s important for the police to try to move deliberately but not hastily. It’s important to slow things down, work at your own pace, and try to maintain control. But when a victim is shot, you are now dealing with a life-and-death matter, and every minute, every moment, becomes critical. If the kidnappers are not negotiable, you can change the ransom drop to a place you want or feel will be safe to make arrests, but not show them that you’re dormant. Because the victim is shot, the chance of him or her surviving is unlikely, so it’s very important to arrest the kidnappers at the time of the ransom drop.
In Jaime Estrada case
As Jaime Estrada emerged from the Milwaukee convenience store, several armed men grabbed him, threw him to the floor of a van and sped off so quickly that his cousin, sitting nearby, didn’t realize he had been kidnapped. What Estrada didn’t know was he was the fourth victim to be abducted in two weeks by enforcers for a Mexican narcotics operation who were ruthlessly trying to collect drug debts. What the kidnappers didn’t know was that they had mistakenly grabbed the wrong target in Estrada, a 17-year-old youth who loved baseball and show cars. As it tragically turned out, Estrada would have only a few more days to live.
Taken to a hideout on Chicago’s Northwest Side, Estrada was apparently accidentally shot by one kidnapper with a hollow point bullet in his abdomen, leaving a gaping two-inch wound. For 30 hours, his captors ignored his cries for medical attention, left him bound, beat him and never fed him, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. Ryan Stoll. The scheme ended when the FBI, tipped to Estrada’s kidnapping, waited for the suspects to pick up the $30,000 ransom and a car from a Southwest Side discount store parking lot. When authorities swooped in, the suspects led them on a chase on Interstat 55 before the suspects crashed their car and they were arrested and told names of the others who were holding Jaime. When the other kidnappers could reach the guys sent to pick the ransom, dumped Jaime at a used-car lot and he died of his injuries about two weeks later despite the belated efforts of doctors, it was a close call.