Mt. Juliet, Tenn. – This morning at approximately 10:20 a.m., the Department was notified by Lebanon Police regarding their active pursuit on I-40 West. Lebanon Police had received an alert through their license plate reader system, triggering the pursuit of the vehicle that was stolen during an armed carjacking in Louisville, KY. Mt. Juliet officers immediately responded to the area to assist by attempting to deploy spike strips. However, as the vehicle approached the Golden Bear Gateway exit, Lebanon Police stopped chasing, and MJPD officers were not in a position to visually confirm where the vehicle continued.
Shortly after, a Mt. Juliet license plate reader on southbound Golden Bear Gateway near Beckwith Road detected the vehicle again. Simultaneously, a Wilson County Sheriff’s deputy spotted the suspect vehicle traveling down Beckwith Road, but was unable to catch up and lost sight of it near the intersection of Beckwith Road and South Rutland Road. At no point was Mt. Juliet Police in a position to pursue the vehicle.
Believing the suspects were still in the Mt. Juliet area—since no additional alerts had been triggered on the city’s #MJGuardianShield license plate reader system—officers began canvassing nearby neighborhoods. Moments later, a Mt. Juliet officer located the stolen vehicle abandoned on Syler Drive in the Beckwith Crossing neighborhood. Officers quickly secured the area and established a perimeter…