After Jack Fitzmorris overpowered two prison guards in 2007, took their guns and robbed two banks, he broke into the Zappitelli accounting firm. Fitzmorris held Karen Zappittelli hostage for hours before releasing her and surrendering to police officers. During the time that she was being held hostage, Karen Zappitelli took several steps to ensure her safety. When Karen Zappitelli was being held hostage by Jack Fitzmorris she didn't speak much. The case study states that she did this to avoid Fitzmorris from getting angry. I think that was a good idea because anything that Zappitelli may have said could have set Fitzmorris off, and she could have been seriously injured or killed (Futty 2010).
Another step that Zappitelli took in the hostage situation to ensure her safety, was that she remained calm. In order to prevent being harmed hostages should always remain calm. If the hostage panics, it could cause the hostage taker to panic. If this happens the hostage situation could become tragic (Taylor, 2014).…show more content… I think that by telling him that she wanted them both to make it out of the situation unharmed, Zappitelli was trying to form some type of bond with him. She did not tell him that she was praying that she would make it out of the situation alive, but she also showed concern for him as well. Sometimes when hostages empathize with their captors, they start to look at the hostage as more of a person. Sometimes creating a bond with the captor will make the hostage taker unwilling to harm the hostage (McMains & Mullins,