Okay. Don't Hey, back the up. Back the up. >> Icon 31. It's J.R. Nelson. He's running. He says he has a bomb in his hand. >> Stay in the car. Jr., get down. Get on the ground right now. Jr. down now. Jr. I'm going to you has got a bomb. He says he has a bomb in his hand. That's the call that crackles across the radio. No context, no explanation, just a detective's voice breaking in over the channel with a sentence that stops every other unit in the county cold. There's no time to explain who or where or why. There's only the flat, terrible certainty of a man who has just watched somebody pull something out of a car that should never have been there in the first place. What makes it worse is how this all started. Because on the morning of April 3rd, 2025, this was supposed to be one of the most ordinary encounters in American policing. A detective with the Iraquoise County Sheriff's Office is working an intersection in the small town of Onarga, Illinois, when a white Ford Edge rolls past with a suspended license plate. That's it. That's the crime. A plate. a piece of expired plastic bolted to a bumper. There is no world in which a suspended tag should end with a bomb squad, a robot, and an 8hour siege in a residential neighborhood. And yet, here we are. Hello, my name is Josh, detective with the Iraquoise County Sheriff's Office. The reason I pulled you over is the plates on this vehicle are suspended. >> Wind it up, please. Thank you. Hello, my name is Josh Schneider, detective with the Point County Sheriff's Office. The reason I pulled you over is the plates on this vehicle are suspected. >> Yeah, they're they're suspected. And then J.R. >> Nelson. Polite routine textbook. But as the detective walks up to that window, he recognizes the men inside and he recognizes the passenger specifically. 39year-old James Nelson who has an active felony warrant out of Irakqua County for aggravated fleeing and eluding. Not a first timer. Not a guy who's going to be surprised by this. A guy who has run from police before and who has clearly spent a lot of time thinking about what he'd do if it ever happened again. All right, step out of the car, man. Please step out of the car. Really, Josh? Yeah, dude. It's you. Come on, dude. Come on. Just this once, let me go, dude. You have a warrant. Please, just this once, let me go. >> All right, step out of the car, man. Please step out of the car. >> Really, Josh? >> Yeah, dude. It's you. Come on, dude. >> Come on. Just this once, let me go, >> dude. You have a warrant. >> Please, just once, let me go. >> Please get out of the car. I know I will, but can I go home first and tell my mom bye? They're not going to let me out of the jail. Josh, >> no. Come on. >> I promise you I will come with you. >> No, you're getting out of the car right now. Please, >> come on, dude. >> And here's the thing that separates a routine arrest from a federal case. James doesn't get out. He starts negotiating. Then he starts begging. Then he asks something that tells you exactly where his head is at. I know I will, but can I go home first and tell my mom? >> No. Get out of the car. Come on. Don't Don't reach. Don't reach. Get your hand Get your hand out of the car. Get your hand out of the car. Get your hand out of the car right now. Get your hand out of the [ __ ] car right now. Jr. >> I got a five, bro. >> Okay. Don't Hey, back the up. Back the up. >> Icon 31. It's J.R. Nelson. >> He wants to go home first to tell his mother goodbye. That's not a man planning to sit in a holding cell overnight. That's a man who has already decided this is not going to end with handcuffs. Don't reach. Don't reach. Get your hand out of the car. Get your hand out of the car right now. Oh. And then everything changes. Icon 31. It's J.R. Nelson. He's running. He says he has a bomb in his hand. Not a knife, not a gun, a bomb. And as the detective chases him on foot through the streets of Onara, something absolutely chilling happens. Every single time James slows down, every time he stops, turns and looks back at the officer closing in on him, he moves his free hand and places it flat over the top of the device deliberately, repeatedly. It's a gesture that says one thing without ever saying a word. I will push this button. The bomb squad will later confirm the device contained live explosive material and metal projectiles packed inside it. This wasn't a bluff. This was a man sprinting through a small town carrying an anti personnel weapon in his fist. Never do you treat me like this. >> Jr. Nelson's running on foot. He has a bomb in his hand. >> He's running westbound. Running on foot to his house. We're running to his house. Jr., stop. >> We're in the backyard of his residence >> on West Seminary. He just got inside his house. [snorts] He still says he has a bomb in his hand. >> Never do that, bro. >> You treat me like this. >> Come on, dude. You know you have a warrant. Please stop. >> Come on, dude. You know you have a warrant. Please stop. And where does he run? Where does a 39-year-old man take a live explosive device when he's out of options? Home. To his mother's house on West Seminary. His mother walks out of the residence and is immediately escorted to safety by responding units while her son barricades himself inside her attic with a bomb in his hand. >> Going to end well. Eventually, James' mother steps out of the residence and is taken to a safe location while he remains inside the home. By 1:48 p.m. that afternoon, the East Central Illinois bomb squad arrives on scene and uses a robot to enter and clear the first floor of the residence. However, when the robot attempts to enter the attic, it finds the door locked, clearly indicating that James has barricaded himself inside. With James paying no attention to the units or complying with their commands, the Kangi County Emergency Response Team arrives by 4:30 p.m., more than 5 hours after the standoff begins. [music] But despite their repeated warnings and commands, they receive no response from James. [music] After attempts to enter the attic through its window fail, around 7:30 p.m., more than 8 hours into the standoff, units finally decide to reach the attic by making entry [music] through the resident's main entrance. >> Think about that for a second. A woman's home, her attic, her recliner, her television, the rooms she's lived in for years, is now a potential detonation site, and the person who turned it into one is the child she raised. What follows is one of the longest and strangest standoffs you will ever see on body cam. By 1:48 that afternoon, the East Central Illinois bomb squad is on scene, sending a robot in to clear the first floor. The robot reaches the attic and the door is locked. James has barricaded himself in. By 40:30 p.m., more than 5 hours in, the Irakqua County Emergency Response Team is on scene and still getting nothing but silence. By 7:30 p.m., more than 8 hours in, they've tried the attic window and failed. >> Find them. Get on comms and have that robot re orientate upstairs. Upstairs >> bas robot picking anything up? Any indication he was a robot? >> He was in upstairs. >> Police with K9. Make yourself known. Find him. >> That's the entry team. The light on up there. That is a >> Find him. He's getting tied up in the long line. Make sure we have that there. We have his spear tool with him right behind you. >> All right. This is what we're going to do because it's getting tied up and he's trying to I'm going to call him back down. I'm going to let him go. Officers are exhausted. Neighbors are evacuated. Nobody knows if the man upstairs is asleep, awake, or waiting. And then, finally, entry is made through the main entrance, and the K9 finds him. >> Finally, with the unit getting more confirmation of James' presence in the attic, they decide to move upstairs. But finding him and getting him to comply is going to be a whole other challenge. >> We clear to go ahead and make entry upstairs. You got half. >> I got it. >> All right. I got half. >> Hey, make sure shields you peel out. You wanted to go this way every time first. >> All right. Doc, are we clear to move? We're prepared. >> Everybody good right now? >> Yep. >> All right. We'll be moving. Come on. Slide out. >> He shoved something in his pants. Got a giant pair of scissors. >> He shoved something in his pants. Got a giant pair of scissors. Taser. I >> got one. Taser up. Taser. >> Taser up. >> Stand by. >> Is this light for you? Can you see? >> No, it's not. >> Let me see your hands. Get over here. >> Maybe we could pull that plastic from the other side. >> Heads up. Coming through with shield. I'm going to drag this out of the way. >> Yeah. Come on. Final. Come on, mother. >> A bomb in one hand, a pair of oversized shears shoved down his waistband and a taser, a dog, and half a dozen officers to take him down. He's been chased. He has a probe in his head and shoulder. He's breathing. He's breathing. >> Get medical to the front. We're going to be coming out with one. >> All right, stop pulling that trigger. >> He's not. >> He's good. I'm not going >> recovery. Get in recovery. Come on. >> All right, we got to get him moving. >> Anybody got a litter in your back? >> I got one [snorts] in my back. I got a litter in my back. >> Let's try. >> All right. He's breathing. He's breathing. He's breathing. >> Slide him this way. >> Give me his arm. >> I got no leverage. Hold >> on. Pull him up. Pull him back. There you go. >> All right. >> All right. Hey, carry him over. >> Let's cross his legs later. Let's get him in a litter. My backpack. I got a litter. >> You got one? >> Yep. It's in my back. >> I got it. I got it. >> Here. Roll to your side. >> He's coming too. >> Yeah. >> James, are you with us? >> Can you roll his legs? >> Yep. >> Over on coast. >> Yep. >> Good. >> All right. We're going to have him carry him on the on his side, right? >> Keep him breathing. >> Yeah. And he got you. Once we pick it up, we can adjust it once he's >> ready. Up on three. One, two, three. Up. >> Rush. You go down first. >> Take your time. >> The front's going to get the front's going to get really heavy. >> That's fine. Logan, you got to have grab both handles. Yep. >> The other one's right around his shoulder there. >> We're good. >> Up. >> Get his butt in there. >> Grab his leg. Grab his leg. >> Little quick. Might have to uncuff him. >> Cuff him up front. >> Uncuff him. Change it to the front. roll. >> Go and roll him. Put that arm straight up by his head, by his ear. Mitch, >> rolling. >> Roll. Pull the litter out. Same time. Three, two, one. Litter out. >> He's coming. >> Cuff him up. He's coming too. >> They're luck. >> Middle belt. >> Now, here's the detail that makes this story genuinely hard to believe. When officers and the detective go back up for a secondary search, they start talking and one of them says it out loud. I was sleeping. Is that what he said? Yeah. Convenient. >> Way in the back. >> All the way in the back. >> There's a whole another room back there. >> I was sleeping. >> Is that what he said? >> Yeah. >> Convenient. >> Yeah, it's a good spot. Sleep the other side or not? Maybe. After eight hours of tactical alerts, drone surveillance, barking K9's, loudspeaker commands, and a robot rolling through his mother's living room, James Nelson, armed with a live explosive device and a pair of shears, had simply dozed off in the attic. He later confirmed it in a jail call with his own mother, admitting he was woken up when the dog bit him. He said he knew police were using drones, that he'd gone downstairs at one point to get a drink, and that he retreated back up to the attic when he saw all the units outside. But it's the rest of that phone call that really tells you who you're dealing with. Because instead of apologizing to the woman whose house he'd turned into a bomb scene, he starts interrogating her. Who told them where I was? James had actually fallen asleep when the units made their entry into the [music] attic. James received medical clearance after being treated. And during a jail call with his mother, he confirmed that he had fallen asleep and was woken up when the canine bit him. He also admitted that he knew police were using drones, had stepped downstairs to get a drink, and then [music] retreated to the attic when he noticed all the units outside. James then questioned his mother about who had revealed his hiding spot to police, and admitted that he was about to snap when officers began making announcements. He wanted a name. He wanted to know which person in his own life had given him up. He admitted to his mother that he was about to snap when the announcement started and that he was going to tell them he wasn't afraid. Not afraid of what exactly, he never finished saying, but the sentiment was clear enough. Then came the search of the attic, and the picture got even darker. along with the bomb and a multicolored lighter found right next to where he'd been sleeping. Detectives recovered a red toolbox that reads less like a hobby kit and more like a small armory. A rifle 140, seven rounds of assorted ammunition, 240 rounds of namine arm, 19 rounds of 12 gauge, a single 40 caliber round, one 50 BMG round, and 40 rounds of 22 caliber powder hammer loads. Apart from finding the bomb James had been carrying that morning, along with a multicolored lighter both in close proximity to where James was found, the detective and responding units also discovered a red toolbox containing 147 rounds of ammunition, a rifle, 240 rounds of 9mm ammunition, 19 rounds of 12- gauge ammunition, one round of 40 caliber ammunition, 1.5 BMG round, and 40 rounds of 22 caliber powder hammer loads. Upon inspection, the bomb squad confirmed that the device did contain explosive materials and had metal projectiles inside it, similar to the items found in the red toolbox. Let me put that in perspective. That is a man who had enough firepower in his mother's attic to hold off a small city and he was taken down because a dog bit him while he was napping. James Nelson was charged with felony possession of an unregistered destructive device, aggravated fleeing and eluding, possession of explosives or incendiary devices and aggravated battery of a peace officer. And in the end, after all of the chaos, all of the terror, all of the hours, the whole thing came down to a single sentence, 5 years in federal prison, >> that he was going to tell them he wasn't afraid of [ __ ] Ultimately, James Nelson was charged with felony possession of an unregistered destructive device, aggravating fleeing and eluding, possession of explosives or incendiary devices, aggravated battery of a peace officer. Eventually, he was sentenced to 5 years in federal prison, followed by 3 years of probation upon release, followed by 3 years of probation upon release. 5 years for a traffic stop over a suspended plate that a man decided to turn into a bomb scare, an 8hour siege, and a mother who had to stand in her own yard and watch her son be carried out of her house on a stretcher. If you want more real body cam cases like this one, hit that subscribe button and follow Bodicam Law and Crime.