Carjacking Ended in our Front Yard

Alleged shooter, hijacker captured

Suspected burglar shoots at homeowner, then pulls driver into police chase

11:30 PM CST on Tuesday, January 6, 2009

By Donna Fielder / Staff Writer

An apparent burglar fired several shots at a homeowner and then hijacked a cancer patient at gunpoint in a getaway attempt Tuesday afternoon, according to sheriff’s officials.

The suspect was taken into custody after an extended chase.

Wallace Eugene Judkins

The homeowner arrived about 1:30 p.m. at his house in the 7600 block of FM2164, in the Redding Ranch development just north of Denton city limits. He noticed a blue Ford Super Cab pickup parked in his yard, but it sped away. Then he saw that the front door of the house had been kicked in and was standing open, said Denton County Sheriff’s Capt. Mike Caley.

The homeowner remained in his vehicle, called 911 and began backing away.

But a man ran out from the house and began firing an AR-15 rifle at the homeowner, Caley said. At least one shot hit the windshield, but the homeowner was not injured.

Then the suspect ran into the roadway and flagged down a passing sport utility vehicle. He entered the vehicle and held a .45 automatic pistol to the driver’s head, telling him to speed away and giving directions on which way to drive, according to the crime report.

A sheriff’s deputy on his way to work was passing nearby at the time and was able to radio the location and a description of the SUV, allowing several sheriff’s deputies, constable’s deputies, police from Denton and Aubrey, and highway patrol officers to begin trying to stop the vehicle.

They did not know at the time whether the driver of the car was a suspect or a hijack victim, Caley said.

Law enforcement officers followed the car up and down county roads north and east of Denton until it entered Woodhaven Manufactured Home Community, formerly Silver Dome Mobile Home Park, off Silver Dome Road at the east end of King’s Row.

With several squad cars in pursuit, the hijacked driver lost control on one of the narrow, winding roads in the mobile home community and crashed the car into a yard. (OUR YARD!!!)

“He is very ill with cancer, and he’s very shaken up,” the captain said of the hijack victim. “He had a gun held to his head the whole time, and when the car stopped, the other guy got out of the car and laid the gun in the victim’s lap. He tried to tell the officers that he was the victim and that the driver had a gun. The driver told us there was a gun in his lap but it wasn’t his gun. This guy has an extensive criminal record, and we believed the victim.”

Names of the homeowner and the hijacking victim were not immediately released. Deputies called an ambulance for the hijacking victim, and he was taken to a Denton emergency room to be checked out.

Wallace Eugene Judkins, 38, whom they believe was burglarizing the house and took the car at gunpoint, has been charged with burglary, attempted capital murder, aggravated kidnapping, assault on a peace officer and fleeing apprehension. Bail had not been set by Tuesday evening.

He remains in sheriff’s custody.

According to Denton County judicial records, Judkins lives at the mobile home park. He has several arrests and convictions for burglary and other crimes. His last arrest was May 12 on a parole violation. He was released in July.

DONNA FIELDER can be reached at 940-566-6885. His e-mail address is dfielder@dentonrc.com.

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Jim called me at work and told me that he heard a bunch of sirens go by in the neighborhood. When he went out on our front porch a bunch of County Sheriff's wearing Kevlar and holding guns ordered Jimmy back inside our house. They were parked across from our house, putting on all their bullet proof gear.

Jim went back inside the trailer and moments later he heard a thud. Jim looked through my office window and saw a car in our yard squeezed between our rose bushes and the crapemertle tree. Police officers pulled out the driver and the passenger and arrested them in the front yard around 2pm.

Jim had to ask permission to leave our house in the van to fetch Elaine from school. Around 4pm there were still a dozen officers in the yard. Our landlord came out to look at the trailer to make sure there wasn't any damage. It's all fine, besides some tire marks in the mud.