TAMPA (WFLA) — A young Florida mother said she was in fear when she looked at her Ring app and saw armed men at her apartment door.
Kada Staples said the men had their weapons pointed at her door, and when she said hello, they ordered her to come out and said, “We know he’s in there.”
Staples believes the armed men, who were U.S. Marshals, were looking for a murder suspect, but they had the wrong apartment. At the time, she didn’t understand what was going on when she opened her door.
“I cracked the door open and they pushed the door open and pushed me and my baby out of the way. They are holding us at gunpoint screaming. There is a gun about a foot away from her face,” said Staples as she held her 3-month-old.
She said the U.S. Marshals kept saying,” We know Jamar is in there.”
“With that, they run in my apartment. There’s probably six or seven of them out there with guns. Three or four of them run into my apartment and are running around. They are still yelling at me that I’m lying,” said Staples.
She said she had been napping with her infant and was the only one inside. The Marshals soon realized their mistake.
“Then one of the guys in the hallway is like, ‘Wait, this is apartment …’ and then said my apartment number and then kind of repeated it again and then they ran out and said, ‘That’s the wrong apartment,'” said Staples.
She said the Marshals left but never apologized for their actions or their mistake.
“No sorry, no nothing. They tell me, ‘You’re good,’ and another one said, ‘You’re fine,'” said Staples.
She said when she called the U.S. Marshals Service to ask why officers had entered her apartment, she asked if they could provide a mental health counselor to help her deal with the anxiety brought on by the event.
She said a man on the phone told her to take melatonin and “get over it.”
WFLA has called and emailed the U.S. Marshals Service to find out why officers were at the wrong apartment and to find out if the officers involved will face any discipline. The U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Department of Justice have not responded.
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