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A wild mob of angry neighbors swooped in and appeared to help fugitives escape from Border Patrol after a seven-hour standoff on a roof in Upstate New York, according to stunning footage.
A crowd of roughly 50 residents gathered as agents arrived at a home in Oswego Wednesday, and tried to serve a warrant on some men, who climbed on a roof to escape, CNYCentral reported.
“Let them go!” the mob could be heard chanting during the standoff.
Jaw-dropping footage then showed several residents rescuing one of the fugitives by lifting him down from the roof as he hung from a ledge of the house.
When the suspect was safely down, other neighbors ushered him toward the street, the footage shows.
Both suspects on the roof then appeared to escape in waiting cars, the station reported.
The incident began at about 3:30 p.m., when the men drove by a local school, Charles E. Riley Elementary School, got out of their vehicle and scaled scaffolding onto the roof of a home, according to Oswego Mayor Robert Corradino.
Border Patrol had a federal warrant for the two men’s arrest, though their charges were not immediately clear Thursday.
“Earlier today, Charles E. Riley Elementary School was placed under a lockout as a precaution while law enforcement investigated activity in the surrounding neighborhood. Following the investigation, the Oswego City Police Department determined it was safe to lift the lockout, and students were dismissed safely,” the Oswego City School District said in a statement.
During the standoff, some people in the crowd threw clothing over a camera lens used by one of CN Central’s reporters and demanded that the crew stop recording, according to the outlet.
Staff from another TV station were also accosted by people in the crowd. The Border Patrol couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
