A prisoner transport van was carjacked at gunpoint Monday by two men who took a juvenile prisoner with them as a pursuit led authorities on a chase almost to downtown Chattanooga, reaching speeds of more than 100 mph, according to Marion County authorities.
Brian Stone and Richard Gerald have been charged in the incident, a news release states. Marion County’s sheriff said Stone is also wanted in Hamilton County in connection with the shooting reported a couple of hours earlier in the 6400 block of Ooltewah-Georgetown Road where two people were hospitalized with serious injuries from gunfire reported about 3:30 p.m. Monday.
The carjacking began in Marion County about 5 p.m. CST Monday when a Tennessee Department of Children’s Services prisoner transport van was allegedly stolen at Exit 143 on Interstate 24 by Stone and Gerald. According to the news release, the men were driving a Nissan Versa and pulled in behind the van, Marion County Sheriff’s Office Detective Chad Johnson said in the news release.
Marion County Sheriff’s Office / Brian StoneThe juvenile prisoner in the van escaped with the carjackers, who fled onto I-24 eastbound. Police spotted the van and a Nissan Versa at Exit 152 in Kimball and a high-speed chase ensued with law enforcement and the fleeing vehicle headed toward Chattanooga, according to Johnson. The chase ended just before the I-24-U.S. Highway 27 interchange in Chattanooga at the new off-ramp for South Broad Street when officers boxed the Nissan Versa in and forced it up against the concrete barrier wall, he said.