CORDOVA, Tenn. — A local man is facing felony charges after allegedly stabbing two people and carjacking a couple before crashing his car in a neighborhood.
“It’s bewildering.”
That’s one of the words those who work in Cordova use to describe what law enforcement tells us unfolded in the parking lot Sunday morning.
“It was 11 a.m. People were getting ready to do their Sunday activities, go grocery shopping, get breakfast and go to church,” Jeff Hettervik, who works in Cordova, said.
Many would also say what 21-year-old Joshua Harris is accused of, is terrifying.
Shelby County Sheriff detectives tell us Harris first stabbed a teen carrying his groceries outside of Kroger.
He then went over to the McDonalds parking lot and tried unsuccessfully to get into several parked cars on the lot.
He finally made it into an Infiniti SUV and stabbed a woman inside in the head, arm, side of her stomach and leg.
Taking off in the SUV, he made it down Walnut Grove where records show he rear-ended an 80-year-old woman, who says she believes he hit her car on purpose.
Investigators also said Harris nearly ran over a security guard at Hope Presbyterian Church.
Another guard shot at him, hitting the car, doing enough damage to slow it down so Harris could only reach speeds of around 30 miles per hour.
Law enforcement continued to chase Harris, and, in a wild ending, he crashed trying to escape.
Detectives said they found the steak knife they believe he used in the attacks in the SUV, along with one victim’s I-phone.
We tracked down someone who knows Harris.
“That’s real shocking to me,” he said.
He didn’t feel comfortable identifying himself, but shared a little insight into the old friend.
“It’s kind of breaking my heart, because I knew he wasn’t like that. I never saw him get aggressive,” he said.
Those in this area plan to stay on alert.
“It’s still unnerving that something like that would happen,” Hettervik said.
Harris is now facing 12 charges, including several counts of attempted first-degree murder.
