SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — WREG now found out what led to the massive search in Shelby Farms on Thursday, and it was more dangerous that any of us knew.
The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office said the man they were looking for threw his bike at a deputy and pulled out a pistol.
The man got away and is still on the run as of Friday night.
Thursday afternoon around Walnut Grove and Germantown Parkway there were squad cars everywhere, a chopper in the air, Deputies and MPD officers armed with rifles and ATVs canvasing the woods at Shelby Farms near the dog park.
“We have had several violent crimes in that area over the last few weeks. It`s just not normal for an individual to be riding and see a bulge that looks like a pistol,” said Chief Inspector Cecil Booker with SCSO.
That’s why he said a deputy in plain clothes went up to him in the first place.
“The male subject decided well you know what? I`m going to go ahead and run! But before he ran, he threw the bicycle at the officer,” said Booker.
Deputies said the man then took a pistol out of his pants and started running into the woods.
They immediately asked people at the dog park to leave.
“Urging us to hurry up and get out of there,” said park visitor Mark Dorsey.
“Screaming at us to come out there. I was scared,” said another park visitor Olivia Pittman.
“You have people walking their dogs, having some exercise, having a good time and you don`t want anything bad to happen,” said Booker.
Shelby Farms is near the border of Memphis and Shelby County.
Deputies said they’re working with police to keep the area safe, especially since there have been aggravated assaults, simple assaults, thefts and burglaries reported in the area in the last two months according to a MPD crime tracker.
“We are concerned about it too, because it`s simply like going across the street into Shelby County,” said Booker.
Deputies said they’re checking security footage at nearby businesses and looking at warrants to see if they recognize him.