"Dog The Bounty Hunter" will come to Bakersfield to personally track down the suspect in the death of two local bail agents unless the man surrenders in the next 24 hours, he said Friday.
Duane Chapman asked 17News to spread this message in hopes the suspect would see it: "Stephen Stewart: Surrender now, or I'm coming to Bakersfield to get you."
Chapman told 17News he knew Zachary Daniel Sims, 23, and Brandon Nicholas Sims, 26, and takes their deaths personally. He said he spoke this morning to their father, Vincent Sims, the owner of Bad Dog Bail Bonds on Chester Avenue.
Chapman said he has a good working relationship with Bakersfield Police, and stands ready to help.
He called the Channel 17 newsroom from his home in Hawaii, but said he could be in Bakersfield in five hours.
"I'll do it, too," he said. "This hurts. This hurts us all. This guy (Stewart) needs to know he's not getting away with this."
Police named Stewart as the only outstanding suspect in the shooting deaths Thursday night of the Sims brothers.
Police say Stewart, 26, and another man were seen fleeing the residence after the shooting. Stewart fled in a light blue Buick sedan and the other man fled on foot, police said. The car was later found abandoned but Stewart is still missing. The other man has been located.
Stewart is described as 6-foot-2, 190 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes and police say he is considered armed and dangerous.
Anyone with any information is asked to call Bakersfield Police at 661-327-7111.
Neighbors said they heard shooting and called police. Officers found one man dead on the front lawn, another dead inside the home.
A neighbor who tried to perform CPR on the man on the lawn said he was wearing a bullet proof vest, but had been shot in the face.
Witnesses saw a man running from the home and driving away in a light blue Buick sedan, police said. That car was found a few blocks away.
Police said the homeowner was not there at the time of the shooting.
It happened in a tidy neighborhood of single family homes near Gosford Road and Ming Avenue, not far from The Marketplace shopping center.
"Gunshots in this neighborhood?" said neighbor Jose Herrera. "This is a peaceful neighborhood."
Austin Ramirez also lives on the street. "You never think it could happen on your street," he said. "But even in a nice area like this, anything can happen, I guess."
