TWO GEORGIA MEN FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES STEMMING FROM SHOOTING, BURGLARIES IN WALTON COUNTY
WALTON COUNTY, FLA— Two Georgia men are now facing felony charges following a string of burglaries and an armed robbery in Walton County.
On April 20th, the Walton County Sheriff’s Office responded to multiple reports of car burglaries in Miramar Beach, believed to have occurred overnight Saturday, April 19th, into early Sunday morning.
Our agency quickly took action, canvassing the areas surrounding the burglaries, increasing patrols, and developing suspect vehicle descriptions.
Late Wednesday evening, April 23rd to early Thursday morning, April 24th, we began to receive reports of vehicle burglaries at a parking lot located off Chat Holley and 331 S, as well as additional burglaries along the Highway 98 corridor west to Miramar Beach.
All burglaries from April 19-20 and April 23-24 fit the same MO – all were “smash and grab” where suspects broke the windows of locked vehicles using a window punch. In one of the burglaries in the parking lot located across from North Beach Social, a firearm was stolen.
At around 1:15 am on April 24th, deputies responded to multiple 911 calls following a shooting off Holiday Road in Miramar Beach, where the victim was robbed at gunpoint by a person fitting the description of one of the vehicle burglary suspects from over the weekend. The victim was shot during the robbery and transported to the hospital by a Walton County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant with non-life-threatening injuries.
The victim does not live locally and was visiting Walton County from Louisiana. While transporting the victim to the hospital, the Sergeant was able to ask the victim for a suspect description, before physically carrying him into the emergency room and then returning to the scene to continue investigating.
Our Crime Analysts, Patrol Deputies, and Investigators identified a suspect vehicle, a black Toyota Corolla, fleeing minutes after the shooting and began tracking the car north. That effort lasted through the early morning hours until the car was stopped in Cook County, Georgia, at around 11:15 am. Three people were detained by Cook County Sheriff Deputies. Two now face felony charges.
Wisdom Hughey, 18, and Darrick Darnell Jennings, 19, both of Butler, Georgia, are charged with grand theft of a firearm and armed burglary. A third suspect is pending proper identification, and additional charges are forthcoming. Hughey and Jennings are awaiting extradition back to Walton County from Georgia.