Stephen “Demond” Banford Sr.

Deadly force

Stephen Banford died after a four-hour standoff when police responded to a report about a man in the street with guns. When two officers knocked on Banford's door, he allegedly lowered a rifle and shot at the officers, who returned fire before Banford shut the door and barricaded himself inside. Dozens of officers responded to the scene including several officers from the NOPD's special response squad, along with several armored vehicles. After roughly four hours of negotiations, the standoff ended. "They did eventually send a robot that we have on the SWAT team into the residence, and the robot located the individual laying on the ground with a weapon on his chest," said NOPD Deputy Chief Kirk Bouyelas. "The robot retrieved the weapon, and then the SWAT team made entry and found the individual deceased." Police didn't know if Banford killed himself or if he was hit by the initial police fire. A neighbor said that Banford would regularly have an assault rifle, shotgun and several handguns laid out on his car while claiming to be Jesus, and proclaiming the impending end of the world. She said she'd heard loud music and Banford screaming the words, "Kill, kill, kill" that morning.