Skip to main content

Pumpkin Carving Father Stabs Man, Ends Crime Spree

By Christopher Coble, Esq. on October 29, 2015 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

An Arlington, Texas man carving a Halloween pumpkin with his daughter stabbed an intruder on Tuesday, unwittingly ending a two-hour, carjacking crime spree. After catching the man rifling through his wife's purse, Scott Hackney stabbed him in his back with a pumpkin carving knife.

Hackney held the man down while a neighbor summoned police, and the home intruder received treatment at a local hospital before heading to jail.

A Night of Crime

The suspect began his crime spree at the Jet Express on Little Road, according to WFAA. He then stole a car at a 7-Eleven in the 4900 block of Little Road, stole a tank of gas at an Exxon station on nearby Kelly Elliott Road, crashed on the Interstate 20 service road at Park Springs Boulevard, and fled the scene of the accident on foot towards the 3700 block of Fort Hunt Drive.

He then entered Hackney's home and began ransacking Hackney's wife's purse, presumably looking for keys to Hackney's truck. (The suspect's ID badge was found on the front seat of the truck.) All told, the suspect racked up at least four felonies in the two hours before he was stabbed.

Papa Bear

Hackney was in his backyard carving a jack-o'-lantern with his seven-year-old daughter when the suspect broke in, and his account is harrowing:

"I was sitting in this chair and looked right up at the door ... I remember being at the front door with him in my hand and I said I had a knife ... I was personally thinking, 'What are you doing in my house? ... I just went into protection mode. Ladies say 'mama bear,' but it was 'papa bear' here ... I guess I was coming down, and he moved and it went right in his back ... I couldn't pull it out."

Texas has its own "stand your ground" statutes regarding justification excluding criminal responsibility. And Hackney was certainly covered under the law's self-defense and protection of property provisions.

Related Resources:

Copied to clipboard