Lafayette kidnapping victim says suspect was 'more nervous' than he was

LAFAYETTE (KGO) -- An East Bay man lived through a terrifying incident where he says he was kidnapped from his own home Tuesday and forced to drive to a bank to withdraw cash.

"He actually seemed more nervous than I was," said kidnapping victim Richard Russell.

Russell said the bizarre kidnapping started when a man showed up at his door in the Lafayette Hills dressed as a construction worker.

"I opened the door, and he had a blow torch and this -- pry bar," said Russell.

There was a struggle.

"He kept saying, get down, get down, and so" Russell told ABC7 News. "We started struggling."

Russell sustained cuts during the struggle.

"He took a shotgun that I have, and I said, 'What use is the shotgun, there aren't any bullets for it.'"

Russell said the suspect kept apologizing for the crime, and was even courteous. "He asked if I wanted a glass of water," he says.

Then, police say the suspect forced Russell to drive his own car to Chase Bank to withdraw cash. "When we got to the bank, he said, 'You're not going to tell the bank to call police.' It wasn't his first time at the rodeo."

That's exactly what Russell did. Police arrested 26-year-old Manual Bustos of Pittsburg at gunpoint. Police talked to Russell's neighbors. No one had seen the man before.

"It's shocking, scary," said neighbor Janine Crowe. "I've never met the guy. Nothing like this has happened in this neighborhood."

Russell, a retired civil engineer, is able to laugh about the kidnapping. He knows it could've been much worse.