Arlington police say a man stole a car, then stole gas, got into a wreck and ran inside a family's home on Tuesday night, where the suspect encountered a father with a pumpkin carving knife.
Police say the crime spree began with a carjacking at the Jet Express on Little Road.
The carjacker then stole gas from a nearby Exxon gas station and then wrecked the car, taking off on foot across I-20 to a 7-Eleven, where police say he tried to steal another car or break into a car.
He then ran off into a nearby residential area and into a man's home, not far from not far from I-20 and Park Springs Boulevard.
A man named Scott Hackney was inside that home, carving pumpkins with his 7-year-old daughter, when the suspect came into the house.
Hackney, armed with just the knife he was using to carve pumpkins, confronted the intruder.
They struggled near the front door. Hackney reportedly stabbed the stranger in the back, and they fell onto the front stoop.
"When I looked up, there was some strange man going through my wife's purse," said Hackney. "I come off the porch and just asked the guy, 'What are you doing in my house?' I still had the knife in my hand from carving the pumpkin, and we ran to the front door and I stabbed him in the back and held him down right here…just jumped in and jumped up did what I needed to do to protect my house and my family."
Hackney screamed for a neighbor to call 911.
Arlington police now have the suspect in custody. He is at the hospital.
Hackney says he didn't know the suspect, who had tattoos on his face.
Hackney says during the struggle, the suspect kept saying something about being dead anyway.
Arlington police aren't sure if the suspect had a weapon, but police suspect there are more victims out there, especially people who may have been driving on I-20 and saw the suspect running across the interstate. He was jumping on cars.
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