All that separated Anniston police Officer Roy Bennett and the 48-year-old man holding a Kmart pharmacist at knife-point was a three-inch-thick window.

Bennett had been speaking to suspect Gary Johnson for nearly two hours Friday morning, using soothing tones to help lower Johnson’s stress level.

Earlier that morning, Johnson had entered the Anniston Kmart, picked up a knife for sale in the store, brandished the weapon in front of customers in the pharmacy department and taken two pharmacists hostage, demanding painkillers.

Bennett said he knew he’d made progress during his negotiations with the suspect when Johnson slid part of the glass window open a few inches.

Bennett could then reach out and touch the man who’d caused the evacuation of the entire Anniston store and the tense, hours-long standoff with Anniston police.

“It’s very stressful, but it’s all in a day’s work for our tactical team,” said Bennett, referring to the Special Response Team, which is manned by 12 volunteer officers within the city’s larger department.

Bennett and myriad other officials credited that team — including four negotiators trained to work with suspects in hostage situations — with the safe, peaceful resolution to the three-hour ordeal at Kmart.

Lt. Allen George, a negotiator on the team and the person who finally was able to coax Johnson out of the barricaded pharmacy, said Friday’s hostage situation is a reflection of the extra hours of training and education that Special Response Team members undergo each month.

“It’s a lot of psychology that goes into it, learning how to recognize different types of suspect personalities,” said George, who’s served as a negotiator for the past 15 years. “Everything is pretty fluid. It’s really the situation and the suspect that really dictates your approach.”

Created in 1989, the Special Response Team is described by law enforcement officials as Anniston’s best of the best — a group of officers who excel in tactical operations, hostage negotiations and strategic planning in high-pressure, high-risk situations.

Since its inception, the team has worked countless hostage situations, including the 2001 crisis at an Oxford motel that ended in the safe removal of a young girl, though the suspect took his own life.

Sgt. Fred Forsythe, another negotiator on the team and the lead investigator in Friday’s hostage situation, said Special Response Team members learn to plan and play it by ear at the same time.

“You want to be in the position that if something goes wrong, you can get to the suspect before he hurts the hostage,” he said.

Two response factors on Friday made for a particularly effective ending, according to team members:

One, Bennett was the first uniformed officer on the scene and was able to develop a rapport with Johnson.

Two, the transition of lead negotiator to George from Bennett in the final minutes of the hostage crisis went smoothly and did not cause any extra alarm to the suspect.

Police first received the call about a potential stabbing at Kmart from store managers around 9:20 a.m. Friday. Bennett, who is a full-time traffic investigator for the department in addition to his role as the assistant commander for the Special Response Team, was patrolling near the store, located at the intersection of Blue Mountain Road and McClellan Boulevard in north Anniston, and arrived there three short minutes after the call went out.

He said there were people still shopping, so he told managers to evacuate the building.

One of those shoppers, Anniston resident Jessica Riveria, said customers were frantic as they ran out of the store.

“We didn’t know what was going on,” she said.

As shoppers cleared the store, Bennett headed to the pharmacy department. There, he found Johnson and two hostages barricaded in the room where medicine is kept. One hostage became ill early on during the crisis and was released into police custody. Bennett began to focus on trying to calm Johnson, who alternated between panic and threats of suicide, according to Forsythe.

The back-and-forth between Bennett and Johnson continued for nearly three hours. George helped Bennett, offering negotiation advice to him, and the Special Response Team’s tactical officers stood ready nearby, armed with high-powered weapons, metal shields and distraction devices.

It sounds intense, but this is what they’re trained to do, said George.

He said the tables turned about 2 1/2 hours into the negotiations, when the final hostage was able to escape while Bennett was talking to Johnson.

After that, Johnson wanted to take a 30-minute break from talking to Bennett and that’s when George said he stepped in, acting friendly and continuing with the promises Bennett had made to the suspect.

Those promises included having only Bennett escort Johnson to the police car when he gave himself up and allowing him to be transported to a hospital for a medical evaluation before he was booked into jail, Forsythe said.

At one point, Johnson — who had ingested a large quantity of narcotics that he demanded from Kmart pharmacists — asked for a pack of cigarettes. Bennett obliged, giving Johnson his personal pack of menthol lights.

A small, empathetic gesture like that one is key in negotiations with suspects who want to feel their stories and needs are being listened to, said George.

By the end of his conversation with Johnson, George said the man was ready to give himself up.

Just after 12:20 p.m. Friday, Johnson unlocked the door and walked out the Kmart front doors with Bennett and George. Johnson now is being held in the Calhoun County Jail without bond, on two kidnapping charges and one count of felony robbery.

George said he’s proud of Anniston police and Special Response Team’s successful operations during a “very stressful” crisis.

“We know what our role is and we do…it,” George said.

Contact staff writer Cameron Steele at 256-235-3562.