UPDATE: Police: Man accused of shooting officer in custody

Monica Faram, Cleburne Times-Review, Texas
·3 min read

Apr. 14—UPDATE: 2:34 p.m.

Cordell said that Elders is in custody.

He was arrested by Gainesville Police Department.

More to come.

--------------

A Blue Alert has been issued as law enforcement search for a man they say shot a Burleson police officer multiple times.

Burleson Police Chief Billy Cordell said the man they are looking for is Jerry Don Elders, a 39-year-old white male.

His last known vehicle is a stolen silver Toyota Tacoma with license plates DKB6819.

"Elders is considered armed and dangerous," Cordell said. "We've got multiple people investigating this case and we are doing our best to locate him at this time."

About 4:15 a.m. this morning, a Burleson police officer made a traffic stop in the 1100 block of Hillside Drive, which is near Burleson High School.

The stop was made for a defective taillight or brake light, Cordell said.

"As the officer approached the vehicle on the passenger side, he came up on the passenger window," Cordell said. "He observed a white male in the back seat, a female in the front seat. He tapped on the window to get them to roll the window down, at which time Elders immediately raised a hand gun and proceeded to fire multiple shots at our officer."

The shots came very quickly as the officer approached the window, he said.

"He had no warning, nowhere really to go," Cordell said.

The officer was transported by another officer to John Peter Smith Hospital where he is alert and in stable condition.

"We do not believe he has life-threatening injuries but we are still investigating all the shots and how many and where he was hit, one of them was in the vest," Cordell said.

Cordell said the car left the scene and turned south on John Johns Drive, which is also named Farm-to-Market Road 731.

They started having vehicle trouble, Cordell said, and the vehicle caught on fire. They pulled over in the 700 block of John Johns Drive to abandon the vehicle, he said.

"The suspects then fled from that location and it is believed that one of the suspects went to a home in the 8000 block of County Road 802 and carjacked a resident at that location," Cordell said.

At 8:44 a.m. this morning, a female arrived at the Joshua Police Department with gunshot wounds. She was transferred to Texas Health Huguley South Fort Worth, where she was pronounced dead.

"We believe that the vehicle we released is her vehicle and that they stole that vehicle," Cordell said.

The officer involved in the shooting has not been identified, but Cordell said he has worked the midnight shift at the department for the four years he has worked there.

"He is an outstanding officer and family," he said. "We're very pleased to have him at Burleson PD."

Cordell thanked the community for the support they have shown.

"We have a very strong community in Burleson, an incredible outpouring of support for these officers, for the outstanding work they do," he said. "Our Burleson police officers are some of the finest people I've ever had the privilege of working with. They do what they do every day.

"This officer showed up and was doing his job and was ambushed. There's really no other way to say it. He was absolutely ambushed during this attack. All of the other officers did what they needed to do and all of our team came together, along with multiple, multiple other agencies."

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