JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville man has been indicted in the murder of a Navy veteran who was carjacked at gunpoint and injured in a crash following a high-speed chase.
On Thursday, a Duval County grand jury returned an indictment charging Lawrence Hall, 26, with first-degree murder in the death of 84-year-old Louis Reese, who died a week after suffering critical injuries in the Jan. 2 wreck.
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Hall also is charged with attempted murder, armed robbery, armed burglary, kidnapping, grand theft auto, attempting to elude law enforcement causing death or serious bodily injury and possession of a firearm by a felon.
He previously pleaded not guilty to several of those counts including attempted murder and kidnapping.
An ex-convict, Hall is suspected of carrying out the Jan. 2 crime spree that began with a stickup at a Mayport Road internet café and later escalated into a high-speed chase leading police from Atlantic Beach to East Arlington.
Investigators said a witness to the robbery at the Lucky Charms Arcade called 911, sending police out to the business in force. Officers assisted by a helicopter and K-9 units later tracked the robbery suspect to a nearby neighborhood.
It was then that Reese was forced into his SUV at gunpoint and the suspect commandeered the vehicle. Two officers were hurt the ensuing chase, one when he was hit while deploying stop sticks and another in a collision with the SUV.
The pursuit came to an abrupt halt a short time later when an officer used a PIT maneuver on the SUV, which spun around into a concrete power pole.
Hall and Reese were taken to a hospital, along with Officers Christopher Rouselle and Joshua Wiggins, who were injured in the chase. Reese, who broke his spine, ribs, arm and leg, died Jan. 8.