BY DOMINGO RAMIREZ JR. UPDATED JANUARY 06, 2022 4:42 PM
FORT WORTH
A Texas man who walked out of hospital after authorities said he attacked a family at a Sonic drive-thru in Itasca was captured Thursday in Hill County.
Casey Phillips was taken into custody by members of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force at about 11 a.m. in Hubbard.
A massive search had been underway since Tuesday night, when Phillips walked out of a Waco hospital after being arrested in connection with multiple crimes including attacking a 17-year-old girl and her mother at a Sonic drive-thru in Itasca.
Phillips was taken into custody Tuesday evening after he crashed a vehicle just east of Itasca.
But he walked out of a Waco hospital a few hours later, authorities said.
The 25-year-old man also is a suspect in a road rage shooting Tuesday in Burleson on Interstate 35W.
During the search, Itasca police believed Phillips was in the Hubbard area, a town in southeast Hill County. Itasca is about 45 miles south of Fort Worth.
Itasca police said Thursday that Phillips was considered armed and dangerous, and likely needs medical attention.
In the road rage shooting, Phillips was accused of shooting out a window of another car on I-35W in Burleson. No injuries were reported. “The suspect cut in front of a vehicle and [the victim] flashed her high beams,” Burleson police said in a statement. “He pointed a gun out and shot at her car, at the window.”
“He was in his girlfriend’s vehicle at the time,” said Itasca police Lt. William Fausnacht on Thursday.
Phillips then drove to Itasca, where he abandoned his vehicle and walked to a parked 18-wheeler, broke out a window and sat in the truck for a few minutes, Itasca police said.
A dash camera captured Phillips in the truck, and later showed where he fell from the truck as he got out of it, Itasca police said.
Phillips then walked to a nearby Shell gas station that also had a Sonic. He approached a 17-year-old and her mother who were in the drive-thru, ordered them out of their vehicle and starting stabbing the teen, Itasca police said.
“He tried to stab her in the chest, but she got her arm up to defend herself,” Fausnacht said. “A man who was in a vehicle in line, got out and confronted the suspect. He managed to disarm the suspect.”
But Phillips managed to get inside of the teen’s vehicle, pushing her to the passenger side with her mother and trying to kidnap them, Itasca police said.
Fausnacht said the mother got the passenger door open and fell out of the vehicle, while her daughter jumped out. They were injured during their escape.
The suspect drove away, but later crashed the vehicle.
Itasca police said a communications breakdown resulted in Phillips walking out of the Waco hospital.
Itasca police believed Phillips was going to a Hill County hospital, but the suspect was taken to Waco, where authorities had not sent officers to guard him.
This story was originally published January 6, 2022 11:10 AM.
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