A Willis woman was left with mixed emotions after a bizarre series of events last week that began when her husband was carjacked at gunpoint while cleaning her vehicle, and finished with the couple helping Conroe police track down the gunman. By then, the man had destroyed her car and shot his next victim twice in Harris County before returning to Conroe. Mashonda Hatchett is very thankful her husband wasn’t shot, but she also lost her car and isn’t sure how much, if anything, her insurance will pay.
The trouble began on Tuesday, April 11, when Hatchett’s husband, Jerome Jackson took her 2013 Chevy Impala to a carwash on South Frazier Street. It was something Jackson had done once and sometimes twice each week for as long as they could remember, and there were never any problems. After all, it was still daylight, and on a busy street in Conroe, she said. Jackson was vacuuming the vehicle and listening to music on earbuds when a white male wearing a hoodie and holding a handgun approached. Jackson didn’t know he was there until the man was already near him and pointing a gun, ordering him to give up the vehicle. Hatchett says her husband thought the gun was fake and someone was playing a prank on him. He actually swatted at the gun with his hand, angering the gunman, who then more forcefully told Jackson he “wasn’t playing” and ordered him to get out of the car and leave he his phone. By then, Jackson could see the gun was no toy, and he complied. The man took the car and sped away.
When Hatchett learned what happened, she finished talking with the police and then posted the story on her Facebook page. Soon, people began contacting her to say they’d seen her car on First Street driving erratically. Hatchett and Jackson then took his car and drove around searching for her stolen vehicle, with no success. It wasn’t until early the next morning they learned why they couldn’t find the car and the sightings stopped.
“About 5 a.m. we got a call saying my car was on the news,” Hatchett said. “We turned on the (TV) news and there was my car being pulled out of a retention pond!”
The gunman went into Harris County where police say he robbed another man and shot that man twice. He fled in Hatchett’s car, but lost control, driving into a retention pond. The car was found, but not the gunman, nor was the money or phone he took when he carjacked Jackson in Conroe, Hatchett said.
Amazingly, on Wednesday morning, Hatchett says her husband went into a Conroe convenience store for coffee and the carjacker walked into the same store and casually walked past Jackson. It’s unclear whether he didn’t notice Jackson or whether he assumed Jackson wouldn’t recognize him without his hoodie and gun. Jackson stayed calm and didn’t confront the carjacker, but went outside and wrote down the license plate of the pickup the man was driving and reported it to police. Hatchett says that vehicle was stolen after the carjacker accidentally put hers in a retention pond in Harris County.
The couple went to Houston to retrieve the items that were retrieved from her car after it was pulled out of the water and they headed back to Montgomery County.
In another bizarre stroke of luck, when the couple returned to Conroe, Hatchett says they were driving down First Street and saw the man again, driving a pickup. Hatchett says they called the police, who told them not to follow too closely. They stayed behind the man, updating the police on his location until they could reach the area. The man tried to flee but flipped the truck. He then jumped out and fled on foot, Hatchett said. Conroe PD began searching the area and deployed a K-9 unit as Hatchett began posting video of the event of her Facebook page as Conroe Police took the suspect into custody.
Readers with Facebook can view that video by clicking here, or copy and paste the following into your browser: https://www.facebook.com/Ms.Myshonda/videos/1614338278594580/?autoplay_reason=gatekeeper&video_container_type=4&video_creator_product_type=0&app_id=350685531728&live_video_guests=0
The suspect is identified as 36-year-old Jason Louis Heard, of Conroe. He is currently charged with Aggravated Robbery; Evading Arrest / Detention with a Vehicle; Unauthorized Use of a Vehicle; Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by Felon; and two outstanding municipal warrants. Heard is currently held in the Montgomery County Jail on a total of $270,000 bond and additional charges may be pending in Harris County.
Heard is no stranger to incarceration, with a lengthy criminal record including Assault on a Public Servant, Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Theft, Burglary of a Vehicle, Possession of Marijuana and more…
Hatchett was thrilled to learn they caught the man who put a gun in her husband’s face and took and destroyed her vehicle. It was also a sobering reminder of how lucky she was the carjacker didn’t shoot her husband, especially since he initially swatted at the gun assuming it was a toy.
“When the police went back to the vehicle, they said the gun he used to shoot the man in Houston with was still in the vehicle along with the belongings they took from the man,” Hatchett said.
(Because of the holiday weekend, MCPR was unable to confirm that statement)
The victimized couple lives in Willis and both work in Conroe, where they also do thinks like wash their cars and buy coffee. Even after the suspect was behind bars, Hatchett said it was hard to believe it happened to them.
“At first I asked, why my car of all cars? It’s not a fancy car. It’s just a regular Impala, but apparently he was just trying to get away,” she said. “Witnesses at the carwash said he had been walking back and forth. He was just looking for somebody and basically just walked up on my husband.”
The Conroe Police Department is investigating the Montgomery County end of the crime spree, while Harris County law enforcement investigates what occurred there.
From now on, Hatchett says they’ll be using only drive through carwashes only and not wearing headphones / earbuds while vacuuming. As a hard working couple in a semi-rural area, they never expected to be victims. Hatchett said if it happened to them in Conroe, it can happen to anyone anywhere.
Police always recommend not wearing headphones or earbuds while out in public where they make people an easier target for carjackings, robberies, and other crimes.
MCPR will update this story as additional information becomes available.
XTRA!!!
From looking at Hear’d FB page, it appears he already had transportation…
But then again, he may have sold his bike to help fund his gold chain and “grill” proudly displayed in another photo….
But then he (allegedly) went here, and carjacked the wrong man, taking the wrong woman’s car…
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