NASHVILLE, TN - A convicted felon on probation out of Rutherford County is jailed in Nashville for committing two carjackings Wednesday evening before a police canine team caught up with him on railroad tracks.

Metro Nashville Detectives were in the area of the Super 8 Motel on Murfreesboro Pike when they saw a man later identified as 27-year-old Elijah Malik McDowell allegedly carjack a black Dodge Charger from a 35-year-old victim. Detectives attempted to stop the Charger, but McDowell kept going. A spike strip was used to successfully deflate the car’s tires. McDowell wound up running off the right side of I-440 and overturning the Charger (a gun was recovered next to the vehicle). McDowell got out of the crashed car and ran to a nearby neighborhood. There he spotted a father and his two children, ages 3 and 7, who were getting into a Toyota Tundra pickup truck. McDowell tried to carjack the Tundra. The dad fought with him while the 7-year-old got the 3-year-old out of the vehicle. McDowell got inside and drove to Sadler Avenue where he got out, ran into the woods, and then onto railroad tracks. That is where a police canine team caught up to him and took him into custody.

McDowell was treated at a hospital for dog bites to his foot. He was booked this morning on 2 counts of carjacking, 2 counts of felony evading arrest, unlawful gun possession by a convicted felon, gun use during the commission of a violent felony, possessing a “Glock switch” that makes a gun fully automatic, aggravated assault for driving at the two children, reckless driving, resisting arrest, and driving on a revoked license. A judicial commissioner set his bond at $211,000.

Source: Metro Nashville Police

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