MEMPHIS, Tenn. — What police said began with an attempted robbery ended with three people in custody following a wild scene outside a northeast Memphis neighborhood.
Saturday was Alicia Holton’s first time visiting Cracker Barrel. She asked for a window seat, but the view she and her family ended up with was one they never expected.
“On a day like this that I decided to come, look what happened,” she said.
She shot video of the incident from her family’s table around 10 a.m., after she said they watched a man in an SUV on Shelby Oaks Drive repeatedly ram a car with three people inside.
“The passengers of the [Volkswagen] Jetta got out and ran into the trees area behind me here, and the guy in the black Jeep followed them in his vehicle trying to run them over,” Holton said. “So wherever they ran to, he followed like a maniac.”
She said the people ran up and down the block just trying to get away.
“He just followed them, drove through the Red Roof Inn lot, circling four or five times,” she said.
Police said shots were fired at some point, but no one was hit, and they haven’t said who fired those shots.
“We could’ve got shot if it was bullets rang out,” Holton said. “It’s just scary.”
The WREG cameras were rolling as police put a handcuffed woman into the back of a patrol car. Moments later, WREG crews watched as the man who Holton said was driving the Jeep was also handcuffed and questioned by investigators.
At first, Holton thought she and her family were witnessing a case of road rage.
“Honestly, you’re afraid,” she said. “It seems like something that’s surreal, out of a horror movie. You don’t expect to see that in real life — especially with your children, you know. That’s something you don’t want them to see.”
Police said this started with an attempted robbery, and they’re questioning three people.
Investigators have not yet released any names or possible charges. This story will be updated if he learn more.
