Last Monday, Jamison Whitaker, 44, was found guilty of the charge of Terroristic Threat. The incident occurred over two years after a guy from Dallas made a threat to “light this place up” at a tire store in Midlothian, where he worked.
A sentence of forty years in jail was handed down to Whitaker.
When Whitaker arrived at his place of job at Liberty Tire Recycling on November 18, 2022, he was armed with an AM-15, which is a rifle that is similar to an AR-15.
“The firearm was equipped with armor piercing rounds that were capable of piercing through body armor,” the office of the district attorney for Ellis County stated in a press release.
Whitaker made a phone call to a few of his coworkers and informed them that he was going to “light this place up.” Before he began fire, he informed them that he would give them a thirty-second notice beforehand so that they may move out of the way first.
It was said that two days prior to the terrorist threat, he had challenged a coworker at the tire recycling shop with a problem with what he considered to be disrespectful behavior. At that particular moment, a supervisor stepped in to help.
According to reports, Whitaker’s behavior had been far worse since that time. Additionally, the day before he arrived at work and made the terroristic threat, he had threatened the supervisor, who had intervened when he attacked the coworker. This occurred the day before he made the initial threat.
During the time that he was forming a pistol with his fingers, it was reported that he told the supervisor, “I got something for you.”
On November 18, one of Whitaker’s coworkers who witnessed the dispute with the supervisor was also a witness to the pistol that he flashed.
It was stated by the coworker that he was troubled by the fact that Whitaker would carry out his plan and that the more than sixty workers who were employed at the warehouse of Liberty Tire Recycling were in danger.
Whitaker was reported to his boss by this coworker, who promptly contacted the Midlothian Police Department to investigate the incident.
After receiving the call, law enforcement officers responded and “safely detained Whitaker.”
In addition, the gun, an AM-15, that Whitaker had demonstrated to his coworkers was discovered in his truck and handed over to the Midlothian Police Department.
According to a press statement issued by the Ellis County District Attorney’s Office, Whitaker was a convicted felon who had served five years in prison for assaulting a public official in the year 2000.
Whitaker entered a guilty plea to the charge of murder in Dallas County in 2011, and he was subsequently sentenced to ten years in prison.
Due to the fact that Whitaker has a criminal record, the Ellis County terroristic threat could result in a sentence of anywhere from 25 to 99 years or perhaps life in prison for him.
Ann Montgomery, the district attorney for Ellis County, stated that “thanks to the employees of Liberty Tire Recycling who spoke up, the offense that Whitaker was convicted of was felony terroristic threat, and not something much worse.”
It is important for the community to remember that threats of this nature should not be taken lightly and that they should get in touch with law enforcement if they occur.