Police crisis negotiators gather in Moore to hear from law officers involved in Oklahoma man's two-day crime spree

Metro police crisis negotiators took lessons from some of the best in their field at the annual Oklahoma Crisis Negotiators Conference that took place on Wednesday in Moore.

More than 100 law officers from around the state were taken back to June 2021 to a two-day crime spree involving a Yukon man that ended in far south Texas. Police said the crime spree started when Joshua Wallin kidnapped his estranged wife and baby in Crescent, holding his victims at gunpoint the entire time.

“The next day he made his way through Texas, Waco,” said Det. Krystal Rodriguez, Corpus Christi Police Department. “He tried to make it to Corpus Christi to make it to the beach.”

Wallin made a call to 911 as Texas law enforcement followed him to Corpus Christi.

911 Call:

“Get on the dispatch radio and tell them if they don’t back off, I have a gun and my family is in the car.”

Security video captured Wallin driving into a restaurant in Corpus Christi, and his estranged wife ran for safety.

“Took his one-year-old at gunpoint, went inside the restaurant, shot some rounds off inside,” said Rodriguez.

Detective Krystal Rodriguez was brought to the scene to negotiate with Wallin.

“I talked to him on the phone for like two hours straight,” said Rodriguez.

Rodriquez and Captain Emily Perez shared their story with other law officers at the Oklahoma Crisis Negotiations Conference.

“We have a very good work relationship with our SWAT team,” said

In this situation, the SWAT team was called in to save the baby after Wallin imposed a deadline.

“So, everything was, ‘If you don’t do this, the baby dies,’” said Rodriguez.

In the end, the baby was rescued, and Wallin survived a self-inflicted gunshot injury.

Wallin was federally prosecuted and sentenced to more than 30 years in prison.

Law enforcement at the conference also heard from police from King County, Washington and Cook County, Illinois.