
Ángel Cordero, neighbor of Ariel Castro, says he is the real hero of the rescue of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight from Castro's Cleveland home. Cordero told El País, "If they're calling the person who broke the door down a hero, then that's me. If the black guy wants to play the hero, that's his problem." Cordero, a native of the Dominican Republic who has lived in Cleveland for 13 years, speaks little English. Charles Ramsey, who has received a swarm of media attention for his role in freeing Berry, has mentioned him - though not by name - saying that Cordero had spotted Berry trying to escape and turned to him for what to do.
Cordero, 32, told El País that he did not see the comparative lack of press attention as an injustice. "I did what I had to do and when Berry comes out she'll say who it really was who rescued her from in there."
According to Cordero's version of events, at around six p.m. on Monday, neighbor Aurora Martí came running to tell him that there was a girl screaming in the house across the street. "I crossed the street and saw Berry yelling and beating on the door," Cordero said. "I asked her if there was a fire in the house and she said no, she'd been kidnapped for 10 years." He then tried to open the door. "I couldn't because it was hooked with a chain, so I started to kick the bottom part until it broke.
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When he did, Berry came running out. "I told her to run before Castro came back and did something to us. Then she went back in to get the girl," said Cordero, adding that Berry seemed very nervous, with her hair in a tangle and her face gaunt.
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Cordero says that when Berry told him that there were two more girls trapped in the house, Martí called to Ramsey for help. "He made like he was going in to get them out, but then he changed his mind. And yes, he called 911, but well after Berry did" using the phone of Altagracia Martí, another neighbor.
On Wednesday night, Cordero appeared on CNN's "Piers Morgan Live" with his niece, Ashley Garcia, accompanying him as translator, in what will be a first round of press appearances by Cordero.
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