Victim, employee hurt in carjacking at Walmart in Madison

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - The suspect accused of injuring two people in a Friday morning carjacking was captured less than two hours later after a chase involving law enforcement agencies in three counties, one of the involved agencies reported.

According to the Lodi Police Department, the 34-year-old Middleton man was taken into custody and booked into the Columbia Co. jail on counts including felony eluding and operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent, as well as multiple traffic offenses. The police department noted that additional investigations are being conducted by the Sauk Co. Sheriff’s Office and the Madison Police Department.

The Madison Police Department previously reported that the carjacking happened around 7:45 a.m. in the parking lot of the Walmart on the city’s east side. Its preliminary report indicated the victim was loading groceries into her white Land Rover Evoque when the suspect approached her and demanded the keys. When the woman refused, he allegedly attacked her.

When two store employees tried to intervene, the suspect backed into one of them before driving off, MPD continued. Both the woman and the worker reported minor injuries, but neither went to the hospital.

About an hour later, the Dane Co. Dispatch Center warned other law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for the SUV, the Lodi Police Department noted in its statement about the arrest. It was the dispatch center in Sauk Co. that notified its counterpart in Columbia Co. around 10:30 a.m. that the SUV was possibly seen heading east on Highway 60 and into its jurisdiction.

About five minutes later, a Columbia Co. Sheriff’s Office sergeant picked up the suspect’s vehicle along the highway and about to enter Lodi. The Lodi Police Department was alert that the suspect was headed their way and the police chief tried to pull it over. The driver refused to stop, even after blowing at least one tire on the deflation devices laid out by a second officer. The suspect turned onto Hwy. 113 towards Dane Co., albeit at slow speeds because of the deflated tires. Eventually, the vehicle spun before coming to a stop in the middle of the highway.

The SUV and one of the Columbia Co. Sheriff’s Office’s squad cars were damaged in the incident, but no injuries were reported.

While the Lodi Police Department indicated that, in addition to Madison, it expects charges in Sauk Co., it did not say what the charges there could be.