Armed U.S. Marshals knocked on the wrong door in Florida last week, terrifying a young mother and a child who were forced out of their apartment at gunpoint, video of the incident showed.
Kada Staples and her newborn were asleep in their unit in Bradenton, about 45 miles south of Tampa, when two armed men approached her door Friday, according to doorbell video she posted on TikTok.
"U.S. Marshals. Come to the door!" a marshal can be seen and heard yelling into her door.
Staples said that she was putting her dog in a cage and that no one was home other than her and the newborn.
The other armed marshal said: "Tell him to come out with his hands up. We know he's in there. The place is surrounded."
Both marshals had their weapons trained on the door when Staples opened it, and they led her out as she continued insisting no one else was inside.
"I don't even know a Shamar," she said.
Other video posted by Staples showed marshals quickly leaving the hallway as she sobbed and went back inside.
The man marshals were pursuing was Shamar Johnson, who was wanted on a homicide warrant in Manatee County. He was arrested in an apartment on the same floor moments after the wrong door was knocked, the U.S. Marshals Service said in a statement Tuesday.
Staples' apartment "was not a target of the investigation," and "team members did not make entry," the statement said.
There was no apology in the statement, which went on to say that if Staples had "not made contact with the team through the Ring doorbell, the team would not have had any contact with anyone" in her unit — even though video and audio revealed that demands that she come out with her hands up.
Staples could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday.
