Elizabeth City, N.C. (WTKR) - A woman police say was held hostage along with six of her children on Christmas Eve is talking about the terrifying ordeal.
On December 24, Elizabeth City Police say they escorted Lakeshia Dawkins to the Magistrate's Office where warrants were issued for her husband Linwood Jackson.
"Every time when I try to leave him, he beats on me. He tells me if I let anyone know what's going on, he'll kill me," Dawkins told NewsChannel 3's Todd Corillo Friday.
After the warrants were issued, officers returned to Dawkins' home on Walston Street to try and find Jackson but were unsuccessful.
A short time later, they got a 911 call where the dispatcher could hear a man hitting a woman.
Dawkins says Jackson had broken into her home.
"He bust the door. He walked through the door, bust my whole door down. Then he went into the bedroom and bust that door down."
"He choked me. He said he was going to kill me. He was going to kill me and I was screaming and hollering and he said 'ain't nobody going nowhere' and he was punching me and punching me. In my face and everything," she continued.
Outside the home, Elizabeth City Police say Jackson appeared in the doorway brandishing what they thought was a gun.
Several times officers told him to drop it before Jackson slammed the door closed.
That's when Dawkins says the assault continued.
"He had his knee in my neck. He was choking me and telling me you're going to do me like this? Yea you going to die and all this - I'm going to kill you. If he can't have me, he said he would kill me. He said he would kill me and he would kill the kids and then he would turn the gun on himself," she recalled.
Police say through an open phone line they could hear Jackson threatening to "kill everyone in the residence" according to a news release.
They could also hear him setting furniture in front of doors before officers were able to make contact.
Around 5:30am, Elizabeth City Police say Jackson came out of the house and was arrested without incident.
It was only then that they discovered the gun he had was a wooden handled BB gun.
"Even if he didn't have a real gun, he sure had us scared because we didn't know. I wouldn't put nothing past him," Dawkins said.
Currently Linwood Jackson is facing a list of charges, including:
- 2 Counts First Degree Kidnapping
- 8 Counts Second degree Kidnapping
- Assault Inflicting Serious Injury
- Assault On a Female
- 2 counts communicating Threats
- Resist Delay or obstruct
- Interfere with 911 Communications
- Injury to real property
Dawkins has a large bump on her forehead and marks on her neck where she claims Jackson tried to strangle her.
She spent Christmas in the hospital.
"He has been beating on me for years. I just didn't say nothing because I was scared. The reason why I didn't say nothing was because every time he beat on me he kept saying he was going to take my kids from me and I love my kids," she explained.
She hopes her story will encourage others to get help before it is too late.
"If you're in an abusive relationship you need to get out it while you can because I could have gotten killed."
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Elizabeth City man accused of beating wife, holding six children hostage with BB gun
