EXCLUSIVE: Mother of woman held hostage in Yucca Valley standoff speaks out
The mother of the woman who was held for hours against her will in an overnight standoff in Yucca Valley last week is sharing new alarming details about the ordeal.
Summer Carroll said her daughter, Danielle Robarge, 24, is under intensive care after her boyfriend, Eric Sandoval, 41, shot her in the throat and critically injured her.
Sandoval held Robarge hostage for more than 14 hours before SWAT teams heard gunshots and entered the house, shooting and killing him.
“I feel for his family right now but I’m glad my daughter’s alive,” Carroll said.
Carroll said the worst part of the ordeal was not knowing what was happening to her daughter during the standoff.
“During it, I was pretty much losing my mind,” she said. “My mother called me and said that Danielle just called her hysterical, saying that he has a gun and he won’t let her leave.”
Carroll said her daughter was sending ominous emails while trapped in the house, saying:
“‘Please don’t send the police… (Sandoval) said that he’ll kill me if he hears them coming,'” she said. “It seemed like she was saying her goodbyes and that was pretty brutal.”
After 3 a.m. Thursday, Robarge had been shot in the throat. She was critically injured and was airlifted to the hospital.
“She’s breathing on her own but her swelling’s too intense to take the tube out,” Carroll said, “Mentally, I think that she’s got a long road ahead of her.”
Carroll said before the standoff, she suspected her daughter was in an abusive relationship, and was trying to get her out.
“I just wanted her to come home i wanted her to get away from him,” she said.
She’s now sharing a message of strength for other victims of abuse.
“To not be ashamed to ask for help. To know that youre not alone that it can happen to anybody,” Carroll said. “To get help and get out of your situation before something like this happens to you.”
Carroll is raising money for her daughter’s medical expenses and other bills while she recovers.
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