Hi everyone, Donut here. Today's main story is one of those incidents that makes you stop and ask a very simple question. That question is, why would you keep a knife in your hand when you're surrounded by armed police officers? Perhaps we'll never know. We're breaking down a police-involved shooting out of Maryland where officers responded to a stabbing. They make contact at an apartment door and they make a split-second decision after the suspect refuses their commands and attacks. It's fast, it's chaotic, and there's a crucial reveal at the very end that explains why officers didn't have the luxury of being able to talk it out. Before we get to that, we got a couple of quick warm-up stories, but first a word from our sponsor. This video is sponsored by Raycon. The new year is here and if you didn't get a pair of Raycon earbuds for Christmas, then you're wrong. Your family was wrong. 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Click the link in the description box or go to buyraycon.com/ operatorbc for 20% off sitewide. That's buyraycon.com/operatorbc Bravo Charlie to get 20% off sitewide. I'm not even online in my chat. Someone just put in my chat, "All you [ __ ] white parents have no life. LMAO soy boys." Now let's talk about someone who actually earned a beer. We got a firefighter who is a concerned neighbor and a man screaming for his life. This all starts when a firefighter was walking through his apartment complex and he passes one of his neighbor's doors. He's minding his own business when he hears someone screaming from inside the apartment. Help me. You all good? Help me. Somebody help me. Not just a little scream. Sounds like he's not joking around. Full-on panic screaming. Help me. Somebody help me. From the outside, that sounds exactly like a real emergency. So the firefighter does what most firefighters are wired to do, which normally is sleep all day and play PlayStation 5. But in this instance, he knocks and there's no answer. He hears more screaming. So he does what he has to do. Take a nap and play PlayStation 5. Joking, joking. Check this out. Help me. Somebody help me. So he kicks the [ __ ] out of the door, which from his perspective is the right call. Sounds like someone's dying in that apartment. Now here's the twist. The man inside in fact was not being attacked. He was not injured, nor was he dying. He was playing an extraction shooter and losing his mind. Old boy was deep into Arc Raiders. He was screaming for help in his headset like his life absolutely depended on it, which it did in Arc Raiders. Look, I've been in some tight spots in Tarkov myself, but never like my neighbor thinks I'm being murdered tight. My neighbor just always thought I was in a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 lobby with the language I was using. I actually do cuss a little. Do you? >> Maybe he had an expensive kit. Maybe the map was closing. Either way, the firefighter had no idea what was going on inside there. It seriously sounded like something was wrong. Once everything was figured out, nobody was hurt, nobody was mad, nobody got arrested. Everyone had a good laugh about it. And to top it all off, the guy whose door got kicked in because he was screaming left the firefighter a six-pack of beer and a thank you. Firefighter hears a scream, tries to save a stranger, almost breaches a door, and gets an award with beer. Best job ever, right? And once you start believing in humanity while watching one of my videos, let me just strip that all away from you. We're heading overseas for a Christmas miracle so stupid it feels scripted. So picture a quiet little town during the holidays. Lots of lights, the Christmas spirit, a beautiful outdoor nativity scene. Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, the animals, the three wise men, all the classics. And then this [ __ ] guy. Now at first glance, nothing seems off. Life-size statue still poses. Very realistic craftsmanship. But then it blinks. He blinked at me. HE'S PUTTING IT OVER THERE. IT TURNS out one of these statues was not a statue. Okay, he did blink, but it's also kind of obvious why doesn't kind of belong in that nativity scene. >> This guy's black. It looks black in the picture, but you never know till you find him. Come on. >> No, he's not dark hue to black. He's Wesley Snipes black. This is a black man. >> Well, it's a grown-ass man standing still holding his arms awkwardly as hell trying to cosplay his way out of prison time. This guy decides that the best way to hide from police is to become a Christmas decoration. One that stands out very much. Not inside his house, not inside a shed, not inside a bush, but front and center in public with Jesus. Sweet little 8-lb 6-oz baby Jesus. Not sure what was going through his head wearing a modern coat and not matching any of the other statues. Three wise men did not show up to North Face to purchase their clothing. According to police, this guy was actually on the run after assaulting officers and running from them. So his escape plan was to stand very still right next to sweet little 8-lb 6-oz baby Jesus. Bold strategy, Cotton. Police roll in, they confirm the obvious. Yep, the homeless-looking black guy who's obviously moving around and blinking is not part of the display. Officers slap cuffs on him and take him in, naturally. Let this be a lesson, if you're wanted by police, life isn't a [ __ ] cartoon. And now for our main story. Because this one answers a question that should be painfully obvious, but apparently isn't. What happens when you keep a knife in your hand while you're completely surrounded by cops? Cops with guns that are pointed directly at you. Well, you probably already know, but let's find out anyways. December 3rd, 2025, Essex, Maryland, around 8:30 p.m. Officers respond to a 911 call involving a stabbing at an apartment complex. And right away, this is not a maybe later call. Someone is hurt, the suspect is still inside, time matters. This is what one might call a hot call. Body cam starts off with an officer stepping out of patrol car making contact with a bystander. The bystander is actually the 911 caller. She tells the officer exactly where the suspect is, still inside the apartment, and gives the officer the unit number. We're off to a good start. The officer goes straight to work. The officer heads down a set of stairs towards the apartment and knocks on the door. The door is locked, but you can hear movement on the inside. So he knocks again and asks who's there. Who's at the door? Who's at the door? Then the door opens and we immediately have a problem. The suspect is standing there shirtless with a big-ass knife in his hand. Who's at the door? Commissioners. Let's pause right here for a second because this is decision point number one. You're at your own front door. Multiple officers are right outside and you answer holding a knife. Yeah. Uh well, I'm just not sure about that right now. >> That's already an awful choice, but it gets worse. The officer at the door draws his firearm with one hand and with his other hand he tries to control the suspect's knife arm. The other officers joined in and are yelling commands. Drop the knife, put it down, hands up, all the things that would literally save this man's life in this situation. Commissioners. Potatoes. Suspect ignores all of it. Watch this next part carefully from other officers' points of view. Second angle, you can tell the suspect doesn't just resist. With his free hand, he throws a punch at the officer who's trying to control his knife arm. Knife still in hand, punch thrown, and they're at point-blank distances. This is some sketchy, scary [ __ ] and that's the exact moment everything ends. Doesn't look like confusion from the suspect, looks like an attack. And immediately when this happens, officers fire and the suspect goes down. I mean, it's pretty obvious he was surrounded front, back, sides. He probably should have just dropped the knife. Let's not forget the officer was absolutely trapped. There was no exit, no path forward, no escape path. Let's look at the shooting from his body camera. Officer didn't have a choice in this matter. He was already too close to this [ __ ] guy with a knife. After the shots, officers moved in pretty fast. Knife is secured, hands are cuffed. First aid is rendered immediately. Most people stop watching this part. Shooting's over. There's a little bit more left to it though. The officers go inside the apartment. That's where they find a woman on the kitchen floor bleeding. I ORDERED A PIE, PLEASE. Is there anybody in here? Is there anybody in here? Hey, we got one stabbed here. Okay, let's go. Okay, man. So there's the reason for the urgency at the beginning. That's why they didn't stand outside waiting for 45 minutes. Every second matters. I don't believe there was any de-escalation that was going to happen at this point. Almost seems like a suicide by cop type situation. He stabbed his old lady in there, came outside, knew he was going to jail, and then started fighting with police with a knife in his hand. Perhaps we'll never know. Speaking of stabbings, I didn't go to Shot Show this year. This was going to be like my seventh or eighth year in a row. Someone got stabbed there. To simulate going to Shot Show though, I got pissed drunk and put $20,000 in cash in a fire. Joking, joking. I didn't go this year to all my friends that I was hoping to run into or hoping to run into me, I'm sorry. I'll see you around. Somebody did get stabbed though. What's a mean to be fair, SHOT Show is a pretty good place to be stabbed at. All the medical equipment companies are there. North American Rescue was there and they had one of their tourniquets available to put on the guy. Oh, would you look at that. Good old SHOT Show. Anyways, that's all I have for you fine people today. If you want to help support the channel, subscribe to pepperbox.tv, go to donutoperator.com, or subscribe to my second channel, Donut Operator TV right here on YouTube. Until next time, please have a fantastic day. Whacker.