Injured Burleson officer out of hospital after being shot by suspect
BURLESON, Texas - The Burleson police officer shot during a traffic stop early Wednesday morning is now out of the hospital.
Burleson Officer Joshua Lott was greeted by his brothers and sisters in blue as he left his room at John Peter-Smith Hospital Thursday.
Outside the hospital, police officers turned on their lights as they waited in the rain to escort Officer Lott home.
Lott was released a day after being shot multiple times. He was hit in the chest and neck but was wearing a protective vest. He hugged friends and family at his Burleson home in a video the police department posted on Facebook.
Officer Joshua Lott has been with the Burleson Police Department for nearly four years and during that time has earned two life-saving awards. He is still in a lot of pain but stable and will recover.
RELATED: Man accused of shooting Burleson officer, fatally carjacking woman arrested
The Burleson police chief says Lott was shot without any warning about 4:15 a.m. Wednesday by 39-year-old Jerry Don Elders.
Police say Officer Lott pulled Elders over in a Burleson neighborhood for a broken tail light. When Lott got to the passenger side window of the SUV, Elders just started shooting.
Not long after that ambush, police found the suspect's SUV partially burned about two miles away.
About a mile away from where that SUV was ditched, police say Elders carjacked and shot 60-year-old Robin Waddell. Police say she somehow turned up outside the Joshua Police Department and was taken to the hospital where she died.
Elders was tracked down and arrested in Gainesville Wednesday afternoon. Police say he was alone and was driving Waddell's stolen Toyota pickup. They say he had a gun with him, but they don’t know if it was the same one used to shoot Lott and Waddell.
Investigators say a man and woman were in the SUV with Welders when he shot Officer Lott.
Burleson police identified that man as Jeremey Wayne Brewer and say they arrested him Wednesday night at a home in Johnson County on outstanding warrants for drug, assault and theft charges.
The woman who was also in the SUV was questioned and released.
Many of Waddell’s friends and neighbors attended a vigil Wednesday night outside the Burleson Police Department. They described her as a vibrant and kind grandmother who cared for her 88-year-old father.
Waddell’s family members believe she put up a fight against her attackers and did not go willingly. They shared some of her final moments.
"Mrs. Waddell was enjoying her morning on her back porch drinking coffee and saying her goodbyes to her granddaughter before her father drove her to school a little after 7 a.m.," said Rick Hazen, a family friend.