vests and weapons while in prison. The police negotiator informed Loi Nguyen that he would have a short sentence and his vest and guns would be returned upon his release. He set down the phone and began to discuss the situation with his partners. At that point, many of the officers involved felt the exchanges might lead to a negotiated settlement; when he returned to the phone, Loi Nguyen stated that while he accepted those terms, his partners did not. Suddenly, the phone went dead, and the CINT immediately tried to re-establish contact with the store. On the first attempt, the phone was busy, and on the second attempt, a suspect calling himself "Number One" (later shown to be Long Nguyen) answered the phone, informing everyone that he was now in control. From that point on, the situation began to rapidly deteriorate. Shots were once again fired at the store's security cameras. Entry At approximately 9 p.m., Long Nguyen shot a twenty-year-old male hostage named Sean McIntyre in the leg and then released McIntyre as the ninth and final hostage to be released with the instruction to deliver their message and plight to the local media. They claimed they were trying to draw attention to the troubles of their home country and that they were on a suicide mission. At that point, the police attempted to distract the gunmen by putting the hostage on the news, which would also move them to the television area of the store, but this tactic did not work. The police team was finally given the "green light" to enter the store. Sniper Jeffrey Boyes would issue the signal to execute the assault. Boyes had received permission to fire on any subject on whom he could obtain a clear line of sight. After McIntyre was shot and released, another hostage was shot just before 10 p.m.; the gunmen had told the hostages to select the next victim from among themselves, causing an elderly hostage, Harold Brooks, to faint. According to Sheriff Craig, the gunmen joked "he just decided he was going to be our next person shot." Long Nguyen attempted to shoot Brooks, but his gun misfired, and Loi Nguyen shot Brooks in the leg. The surviving hostages stated the gunmen divided them into two groups and had begun flipping a coin to decide their fates. Guns were placed to the hostages' heads. Several hostages