Man Defending Mother Dies in Anaheim Siege

A 33-year-old man, reportedly distraught over the recent breakup with his girlfriend, shot and killed the woman’s son Saturday and then held her elderly mother hostage for nearly six hours before releasing her and surrendering, Anaheim police and witnesses said.

Darren Look, 21, was shot when he ran to his mother’s defense after a suspect identified by police as George William Burnside of Anaheim stormed into the family’s home with a gun and a hand grenade, a witness said. The siege ended shortly after 4 p.m. when the gunman released Look’s 67-year-old grandmother and then surrendered to police.

According to an account by Look’s girlfriend, who saw the shooting, Burnside came to the home at 1337 N. Aetna St. about 10:30 a.m. and threatened to kill seven people in the house and himself.

“He said, ‘All of us are going to die,’ ” according to Tammy McDaniel, 22, who was with Look in his bedroom when the suspect burst into the house. “He was irate.”

Look’s mother, Barbara Badgett Look, her father and two family friends escaped unharmed shortly after the shooting. McDaniel said Burnside allowed her to move her dying boyfriend as far as the courtyard outside the house, but he continued to hold Barbara Look’s elderly mother, identified by neighbors as Jean Badgett, during hours of tense telephone negotiations with police.

Badgett was released shortly after 4 p.m., leaning heavily on the arm of a black-suited member of the Police Department’s Special Weapons and Tactics team. She walked past the body of her grandson, which had been covered with a blue plastic sheet, and was taken into a neighbor’s house.

About 20 minutes later, police pulled the gunman from the house and arrested him on the front lawn. He was placed in the rear of a waiting squad car and sat upright, looking straight ahead, as he was taken to the Anaheim police station. Charges were pending Saturday night.

Look’s body, which had been dragged by police to a neighbor’s front lawn, remained there for more than an hour after Burnside was arrested, while police investigators combed the scene.

The tragedy came as no shock to neighbors, who said police had been summoned to the house several times to cool arguments between Barbara Look and her ex-boyfriend. In addition, several neighbors said they had called police because of what they believed to be drug use by family members.

‘There They Go’

“I heard the shot and I just told my friend, ‘There they go, they’re killing each other again,’ ” said Pat Region, who lives next door to the Looks. When Region realized that someone had been shot, she said: “I was terrified. I thought, ‘Oh, God, it’s finally come down to this.’ ”

Police said the hostage drama started as an argument between Burnside and Barbara Look and quickly escalated.

“During the argument, things got out of hand and he shot the ex-girlfriend’s son in the house,” said Officer Jeff Berns, a member of the police hostage negotiation unit. “Burnside was apparently despondent about their breakup.”

Throughout the day, Berns said police were in telephone contact with the gunman, who was unaware that Look had died. Keeping that information off television and radio broadcasts was critical to negotiators, who felt Burnside would be more likely to surrender without further bloodshed if he believed he might only be charged in a non-fatal shooting, Berns said.

One of the key negotiators during the ordeal was Anaheim Officer Steve Stempniak, who was involved just two days earlier in a hostage situation at an Anaheim high school in which a student allegedly held several classmates at gunpoint, shooting and wounding one in the face.

‘A Crazy Man’

McDaniel described Burnside as “a crazy man” who had threatened to kill Look, his mother, Barbara Badgett Look and other family members after his breakup with Barbara Look about a month ago. McDaniel said she and Look were awakened by shouting between Look’s mother and Burnside. Look confronted Burnside in his mother’s bedroom and was shot in the lower right chest, Sgt. Chet Barry said.

Barbara Look wrestled the gun away from Burnside and ran into the master bedroom of the house, where she threw the weapon under the bed in an apparent attempt to hide it, McDaniel said. Barbara Look tried to escape through the window of a bathroom adjoining the bedroom when the suspect pulled her back and dragged her into the living room, according to McDaniel.

“I didn’t think that all of us might die,” McDaniel said, “I was worried about Darren.”

In the midst of the chaos, she said she called 911 to summon help and started to drag Look out of the house.

“I carried Darren to the courtyard gate,” she said. “I told Darren I would get him some help and he said, ‘I love you.’ Those were the last words he said.”

Police and paramedics arrived around 11:30 a.m., and police sealed off the block and set up a command post across the street from the barricaded home. At least 10 SWAT officers, clad in black jumpsuits and black hoods, arrived about two hours later. The SWAT team surrounded the house, occasionally sprinting between buildings. During the standoff, at least 30 to 40 neighbors, some walking with young children, watched from behind a yellow police tape.

At one point, shortly after police arrived, officers tried to retrieve Look’s body from the doorstep, believing that he might still be alive. They dragged the body to the neighbor’s front lawn, but were forced to retreat when the gunman learned of their location.

Body Lay on Lawn

Authorities said, however, they believe Look had been dead for at least 30 minutes when officers approached the body. For several hours during the standoff, Look’s body lay on the front lawn under a dark blue sheet with only his right foot visible.

Police and neighbors said there had been numerous arguments at the house between Burnside and Badgett, some of which required police to respond.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” said Jim Hopkins, who has lived across the street from the home for about 35 years. “I’m just surprised it took this long.”

Hopkins said Burnside lived “on and off” in the house until recently. In the last two weeks, he said Burnside “would drive up close to the house when Barbara was working in the front yard. He would ask if he could talk to her; she wouldn’t let him on the property and he would speed away.”

Hopkins said Burnside once told Hopkins’ wife that he was a policeman and another time said he was a security guard.

‘I’m in a Panic’

During the ordeal, Sherry Parker, a single mother of three, said in a telephone interview from her home two doors from the incident, “I’m in a panic; we can’t get information about what’s going on.

“My 12-year-old was baby-sitting my other children while I was out,” she said. “I came home to find cops everywhere and a fireman telling me I could go to my house, but only if I stayed inside.”

Neighbor Stephanie Willitt said: “We’ve seen police cars at that house before. When we moved in here about a year ago, we were told that was the only house in the area where there was ever any trouble.”

By 4 p.m., with one hostage still inside, officer Berns reported the situation “stabilized” and said police had no plans to storm the house.

“From a negotiating standpoint, we have time on our side. Storming the house would be a last resort, used only if somebody’s life is in danger,” he said shortly before the hostage was released.

During the last-minute negotiations, police also considered the possibility of shutting off power to the house, but scuttled the plan when it would have cut power to the whole area.

There were tense moments during the siege, during which the gunman broke off talks with police. At 2:45 p.m., in a message to SWAT officers, a dispatcher was heard to say over the police radio: “The suspect is very agitated right now. He just hung up the phone.”

Describing the last minutes of the ordeal, one officer reported over the radio:

“Grandma is on the porch now.

“Suspect is agitated and may come to the front door . . .

“Grandma is out. She’s on her way to the CP (Command Post).

“Do we need an ambulance for Grandma?

“No.”

After the last hostage was taken from the house about 4:15 p.m., police again contacted the gunman by telephone.

“Suspect is on the phone. He wants to access, but he wants some time to think about it.

“That’s OK. . . . We’re just going to hold on now.

“He is off the phone and thinking about it.

“OK, we have people out front waiting to talk to him,” the radio exchange concluded.

Times staff writers Lily Eng and Jerry Hicks also contributed to this story

Fatal Disagreement A step-by-step look at the shooting and hostage-taking that unfolded at 1337 N. Aetna St. in Anaheim on Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to $:35 p.m., based on police and witness accounts. 1. Tammy McDaniel and Darren Look are awakened at 10:30 a.m. by argument between Darren’s mother, Barbara Badgett Look, and her ex-boyfriend, George William Burnside. Darren walks into the hall and confronts Burnside. 2. Burnside allegedly shoots Darren in the chest with a shotgun. 3. Barbara Look grabs gun from Burnside, throws it under a bed, then tries to climb out bathroom window. Burnside allegedly drags her back into the livingroom. 4. Barbara Look, her father and two friends escape. 5.Tammy drags Darren’s body to front yard and escapes. 6. The last hostage, identified as Jean Badgett, mother of Barbara, walks out through the front door. Burnside surrenders to police at 4:35 p.m.