Arlington SWAT Team Arrests 18-Year-Old For Murder Of Store Clerk Jordan Hightower
ARLINGTON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - Police in Arlington have arrested the suspect in the murder of store clerk Jordan Hightower last Sunday.
Police Lt. Chris Cook said 18-year-old Dorian Woodard was taken into custody by the department's SWAT team on Thursday as he was trying to get inside an Uber ride in Arlington. Police credited tipsters for helping in the arrest.
Woodard was charged with one count of capital murder.
"We owe a great deal of thanks to tipsters who provided crucial information in the case," said Arlington Police Chief Al Jones. "I am also thankful for the widespread news coverage of this case by local media, which enabled detectives to receive multiple tips that helped them to identify Mr. Woodard as the gunman who was captured on store surveillance video committing this crime."
The victim, Hightower, was shot and killed as he worked behind the counter at E-Z Mart on East Bardin Road on the early morning of Sunday, Jan. 17.
Police released surveillance images and video of the suspect as he walked into the store. Police said the suspect fired at least eight rounds at the 31-year-old without saying anything, took several items and then fled the scene.
Police said shortly after the shooting, at around 3:30 a.m., two people entered the store and saw Hightower struggling, but they didn't try to help.
"It's very horrific... the lack of humanity and sanctity of life," Cook said on Sunday.
Another customer walked into the store about an hour and a half later, found Hightower unresponsive and called 911, police said. The 31-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said they received a tip through Crime Stoppers that Woodard told people he shot the victim and stole tobacco and snacks. That tipster and another were able to help police identify Woodard as the suspect in the surveillance video. Both also helped police determine that the suspect lived at his father's apartment.
"Hours after learning that my son was brutally murdered for no reason, I'm not filled with hatred... I'm filled with hurt and I'm filled with pain," Hightower's father, Walter Hightower, said on Sunday.
"He wanted a family and he wanted so many things, and [the suspect] needs to pay for what he did... people can't just take people away like that and not have consequences," Hightower's wife, Kristin Reynolds, said on Sunday.
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