Suspect in custody in shooting of Burleson officer, slaying of woman in carjacking
A man opened fire through a car window early Wednesday in Burleson, shot a police officer who had stopped him, then likely killed a woman during a carjacking, authorities alleged.
Jerry Elders, 39, was arrested in the woods in Gainesville about nine hours later, after police entered the license plate number of the vehicle he is accused of stealing in the robbery into a network of devices that scan plates. The system indicated that the vehicle had passed a plate reader in Denton.
Elders was arrested after police pursued the carjacking victim’s stolen pickup truck on Interstate 35 in Cooke County, Burleson police said. He abandoned the pickup and ran but was taken into custody a short distance away.
Elders was transported to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, where he was being held as of Thursday morning, jail records show. He was charged with aggravated assault against a public servant, theft of property, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and failure to appear. A bond of $1,010,741 has been set.
After shooting and wounding Officer Joshua Lott, Elders and two other people, a man and a woman, drove together from the scene, but their car became disabled, Burleson Police Chief Billy Cordell said at a Wednesday afternoon press conference.
Elders and the other suspects left their vehicle, which had caught fire, and he carjacked a Toyota Tacoma from a woman at her home in the 8000 block of County Road 802 in Johnson County, Cordell said.
The woman who was carjacked was shot, and arrived under circumstances that were not clear at the Joshua Police Department about 8:45 a.m., Cordell said. She was then taken to Texas Health Huguley Hospital in Fort Worth and died.
The name of the woman has not been released by authorities, but CBS 11 News identified her as Robin Waddell after speaking to her son. The television station reported that the carjacker may have dumped Waddell outside the Joshua police station after kidnapping her. Joshua police declined to comment when a Star-Telegram reporter called the department.
Family members outside Waddell’s home didn’t wish to speak Wednesday evening, but a neighbor confirmed Robin Waddell’s name to a Star-Telegram reporter and shared what he and her son saw.
The neighbor, Shawn Alford, said the suspects walked through a creek and were muddy and wet when they arrived outside Waddell’s son’s back door about 7:15 a.m. A woman banged on the door and Phillip Waddell met the suspects with a shotgun and yelled at them to get off his property, Alford said. He speculated the suspects might have been hiding in the area after police shut down roads.
The suspects went back into the woods, he said. About 8:15, Phillip Waddell got a text from his mother, who lived across from him. She said she was going to sit on her back porch and watch the helicopters involved in the search, Alford said.
About 9:15, Phillip Waddell went to his mother’s home and saw her truck was gone and thought she was running errands, Alford said. About an hour later, he was told that his mother had been killed.
“We moved out in the country to get away from the crazies and the crazies just came to us,” Alford said.
“She was a good woman,” he said. “We helped each other out a few times. They own all that land ... 150 acres. And our dog went running around out there and she helped round him up. ... I’ve helped him with cattle. We’ve helped each other out, just neighbors.”
Alford said he thinks he would have heard the gunshot if Robin Waddell had been shot at her home.
“We believe they abducted her and they took her and she was screaming and kicking and they probably shot her,” he said. “Then probably felt guilty and dropped her at the police station.”
There was a massive search Wednesday for Elders. Authorities interviewed the woman who was present when Lott was shot, but it was not clear whether she would be charged. Authorities also were looking for the second man Wednesday.
Elders was wanted on the charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a police officer, a first-degree felony, and possession of a controlled substance penalty group 1, less than 1 gram, which is also a felony offense.
Lott, 36, was shot three times, including in his chest and neck, Cordell said.
Lott was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth by another officer. His injuries are not considered life-threatening, Cordell said. Lott has been on the Burleson force for four years and works a midnight patrol shift.
Lott was shot about 4:15 a.m. in the 1100 block of Hillside Drive in Burleson, near Burleson High School and STEAM Middle School.
Cordell said the officer had stopped the vehicle on an equipment violation and later noted it involved a defective light.
“The officer approached the vehicle on the passenger side. There appeared to be three occupants in that vehicle,” Cordell said. “As he turned toward the window, immediately shots started coming from within the vehicle through the window, striking the officer multiple times.”
Elders, who was driving, shot the officer through the passenger window with a handgun, Cordell said. A woman was sitting in the front passenger seat, and a man was in the backseat.
The police chief said he believes the officer returned fire at the suspects, but he did not know if any of the suspects were shot.
Lott had no warning and nowhere to go when the gunfire started, Cordell said.
“He was ambushed,” he said. “No other way to say it. He was absolutely ambushed.”
Cordell said Lott was wearing a bulletproof vest and he believes one of the shots hit the vest.
The suspects fled the scene in their car before abandoning it in the 700 block of John Jones Drive, police said. The car appeared to have burned.
The Texas Rangers took the lead in the investigation. The Department of Public Safety issued a Blue Alert for Elders, a statewide alert that is sent for suspects in assaults on officers.
Officers from nearby cities, including Fort Worth, converged on the Burleson neighborhood as authorities searched for the suspects. Officers went door-to-door, checking on Burleson residents in the neighborhood where the suspects abandoned their vehicle.
Elders has a criminal history in Tarrant County, according to criminal court records. Since 2002, he has been charged nine times with crimes such as drug possession, theft and burglary.
Burleson police arrested him in January and accused him of drug possession, according to Tarrant County criminal court records. His next court date was scheduled for May 3 in Criminal District Court No. 371.
A handful of police officers from area departments gathered at JPS Hospital, where Lott was recovering.
Standing in the street outside of the hospital ER, Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn said of the officer, “We believe and pray that it’s going to turn out good.”
He told press the recovering officer had the support of the community and his peers in law enforcement.
“You’re going to see police officers come in and out of here — and deputies and sheriffs and constables. They’re all going to show up, because that’s our brother up there,” Waybourn said. “We know he’s our brother in arms. And we want to make sure he and his family are OK.”
Staff writer Jack Howland contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 14, 2021 at 6:22 AM.
