Four men were placed under arrest by the Arkansas State Police in connection with a botched ATM theft from a 7-Eleven in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The suspects allegedly attempted to steal the ATM early Friday and then fled the scene, leaving behind 23-year-old Tyrese Walder, who was fatally shot by a customer, according to a post from the Murfreesboro Police Department.
The capture of the men was facilitated by the keen eye of crime analysts with the Murfreesboro Police Department’s Real Time Crime Center, who used license plate reader cameras to identify the suspects' escape vehicle. A nationwide alert was sent out to quickly apprehend the SUV. Eventually, the vehicle was stopped in Arkansas, and the men were detained, with authorities noting that they seemed to be on their way back to their home state of Texas. They now await extradition proceedings to Tennessee.
The incident began unfolding when three individuals reportedly smashed a window with a sledgehammer and attempted to forcibly remove the ATM using a guy wire. In an act of intervention, a customer inside the 7-Eleven discharged a firearm, striking one of the culprits. "a hammer, and used a guy wire to pull the ATM from its base. A customer inside the store opened fire, striking one of the would-be thieves," the Murfreesboro Police Department clarified.
The man whom the customer shot was declared deceased on the scene by Rutherford County Emergency Medical Services. Interviewed and then released pending further investigation, the customer's actions are poised to continue to unravel under police scrutiny. The involvement of a Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office K9 unit and drone operator was instrumental in the search for the suspects, who had abandoned the stolen truck at an apartment complex still tethered with the guy wire used in the attempted theft.
