Decator-Avondale Estates Patch – by Sydney Wu
A Lithonia man and his 9-year-old grandson have quite the story to tell after a bullet grazed the man’s head as carjackers reportedly shot at him and his grandson.
Luther Tookes, 71, had just pulled into the driveway of his Lithonia home with his grandson in the backseat when he noticed two men in a Lexus, Fox Atlanta reports.
Tookes told his grandson, Deshon, to duck when he saw one of the men pull out a gun, according to WGCL.
“I told my grandson get down,” Tookes told the news station. “I had my gun in my glove compartment, but I couldn’t get it there, ‘cause he walked on me too fast.”
The Vietnam veteran told WGCL he didn’t know if the men would let his grandson and him live, so he backed his own car into the Lexus.
The man shot at Tookes and one bullet grazed his head.
“I rammed their car, and then I pulled up in the grass back there and took out my gun and shot at him a couple of times, and they started running and that was it,” Tookes told WGCL.
Deshon’s mother, Nicole Stewart, told the news station she was shocked at seeing the bullet holes in her father’s SUV.
“I just can’t believe my father and my son were in that car,” Stewart said.
The men, identified by police as Kelvin Brown, 23, and Justin Williams, 25, allegedly carjacked an AT&T van, Fox Atlanta reports. The worker was pulled from the car and suffered a leg injury.
The two men led DeKalb County police on a 20-mile chase, WGCL reports. Williams jumped out of the van near Memorial Drive and was arrested.
Officers boxed in the AT&T van near Chamblee Tucker Road and pulled Brown out of the van.
Brown was charged with armed robbery, three counts of aggravated assault and one count of aggravated assault on a police officer, Fox Atlanta reports. Williams was charged with armed robbery and three counts of aggravated assault.
Police say Tookes’ injuries were not life-threatening, according to Fox Atlanta.
“He is an ex-Vietnam vet, so I feel like the military training kicked in,” Brandon Stewart, Deshon’s father, told WGCL. “I feel like he saved my son’s life.”
Nice going Mr. Tookes. Just shows messing with old timers can be hazardous to the health of thugs.