What you need to know
- Jerry Don Elders, 39, was arrested in Gainesville after a stolen vehicle where he was believed to be traveling was seen by a license plate reader and police tracking.
- A janitor was abducted outside a Burleson home after the officer was shot. He appeared at PD Joshua with several gunshot wounds and later died from his injuries.
- Burleson police officer Joshua Lott is in stable condition with injuries that are not considered life-threatening. Lott was shot at least three times in the chest, shoulder and neck.
The man suspected of shooting Burleson police officer Joshua Lott several times during a traffic stop Wednesday morning and is likely to be involved in the death of a woman who was abducted in cars after being arrested for an hour on Wednesday, according to Burleson police.
Burleson Police Chief Billy Cordell said Wednesday afternoon that they were looking for Jerry Don Elders, 39, in connection with the shooting of both the officer and the woman and said it should be considered. ” armed and dangerous “. Two more people, a man and a woman, were believed to be in the car with the Elders at the time of the shooting and police are also looking for them.
Burleson police confirmed Wednesday afternoon that they were still looking for another suspect related to the crimes and that the woman who was in the car had been in contact with police. Police have not released the name of the other person named suspect.
Cordell said shortly after 2 p.m. that shortly after the blue alert was issued investigators received a hit from a license plate reader in Denton County for the stolen Toyota Tacoma from the woman they believed was driving the elderly.
Gainesville officers located the truck on Interstate 35 and attempted to stop traffic, but the driver refused to stop. After a short chase, the occupant of the truck tried to flee on foot and hide in a wooded area, but was arrested, Cordell said.
The man suspected of shooting Burleson police officer Joshua Lott several times during a traffic stop Wednesday morning and probably involved in the death of a woman in the nearby town of Joshua, is under arrest, according to the Burleson police.
“The person we believe shot our officer and was probably involved in the death of a woman is now in custody,” Cordell said.
The seniors are being held at the Cooke County Jail, but will eventually be returned to Johnson County. He is currently being held on $ 1,010,000 bail for the charge related to the officer’s shooting, as well as for a pending warrant for possession of a controlled substance that was active prior to Wednesday’s events. No other charges have been announced and it is unclear if Elders has representation.
The officer, identified by the department Wednesday afternoon, is in stable condition with injuries that are not considered life-threatening, Cordell said.
The chief added on Wednesday afternoon that Lott was hit in the chest, shoulder and neck, this being a transverse wound where the bullet came out of the officer’s body.
“The officer, it’s really a remarkable story,” Cordell said, about the officer’s survival. “It’s an amazing story. I visited him in the hospital, he’s alert, he’s in stable condition and he’s talking. We’re very grateful. It could have been a very different result. We’re very grateful that this officer is going to recover.”
NBC News 5 / Burleson Police Department Officer Joshua Lott, on the left, and with Chief of Police Billy Cordell on the right.
Lott was shot Wednesday morning after he caught a driver due to an “equipment violation” around 4:15 a.m. on Block 1100 on Southwest Hillside Drive, near the school campus Burleson High School.
When Lott approached the front door on the passenger side and turned to the window, someone in the driver’s seat reached the passenger side of the car and fired several shots out the window, knocking him several times. .
He walked to the window. He reached the window and the shots came very quickly, in just a couple of seconds. I had no warning, nowhere really to go. We are very lucky that right now it is in stable condition.
He was ambushed. There is no other way to say it. He was absolutely ambushed.
Burleson Police Chief Billy Cordell
The group drove away and abandoned the vehicle about two miles off the southeast road of John Jones. Cordell said it appears the group may have tried to set the vehicle on fire or that they encountered some sort of problem with the vehicle that drove into the fire.
Cordell said police believe the trio attacked a woman outside a home on Block 8000 of County Road 802 in Burleson.
At 8:44 a.m., the woman showed up at Joshua Police Department with gunshot wounds. She was taken to Huguley South Hospital in Burleson, where she later died.
Police have not yet confirmed his identity, but a family member of the victim told NBC 5 news partner Telemundo 39 that the victim was working at home as a security guard.
At a second press conference Wednesday afternoon, Cordell did not confirm Edlers’ connection to the woman’s death, but said that because he was found in his vehicle, they believe he may be involved.
“Number one, he has a person with two crime orders who doesn’t want to go back to jail, obviously he shot a police officer and then he stole a car … knocking on a woman’s door and grabbing her , if that really proves it, be it him, we believe there is certainly a connection, that he was fleeing in his vehicle, “Cordell said. “We are very relieved that he is under arrest.”
Cordell said investigators are still working to determine when the woman was shot and how she got to the back door of Joshua’s police department.
Meanwhile, Lott was taken by another officer to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth for treatment. He was “lucid and talkative” when he was transported to the hospital, Cordell said.
Lott joined the Burleson police department in 2017 and was described by the chief as a “prominent officer.” In his short stint in the department, Lott has been recognized several times and has won life-saving awards in 2018 and 2020. In 2019 he received a police congratulation for his work in recovering seven motorcycles at Burleson Power Sports .
Throughout the morning, officers from different departments in the area have been present in the lobby of JPS Hospital to show support for the injured officer. Among them was Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn, who said he wanted to check on the officer’s family.
“You will see police officers and deputy sheriffs and police officers coming in and out: they will all show up because this is our brother and we know he is our brother in arms. We want to make sure he and his family are okay,” he said. to say. “No doubt, as a community we will overcome it, but it only reminds us of the day-to-day danger that our police nobles see.”
“We appreciate all the support we receive, the outpouring of so many people. I can’t tell you how much that means to us and to this officer,” Cordell said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with him and we ask our community to pray for him as well.”
The Texas Rangers, who spent much of the day investigating Lott’s Burleson home, lead the investigation into the shooting while other agencies offer resources and volunteer equipment to assist them in the investigation.
NBC 5 learned Wednesday afternoon that seniors have a long criminal history in Johnson County, Tarrant County, Fort Worth, Crowley, Burleson and Dalworthington Gardens. According to public records, his detention history goes back 22 years to 17 years and includes convictions for unlawful possession of a controlled substance, unlawful possession of a firearm, theft of property and attempted theft.
The shooting is at least the fourth in which a Texas police officer has been involved in recent weeks. An Austin police officer was shot dead Friday, while a state soldier was shot during a hunt at the hands of a man accused of opening fire on a cabinet business. And late last month, a state soldier was shot dead during a traffic stop near Mexia, about 75 miles southeast of Dallas.
NBC 5’s Alanna Quillen contributed to this report.