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Waffle House pitchfork robbery suspect arrested for murder

NORCROSS, Ga. — The man accused of robbing a Waffle House with a pitchfork in Gwinnett County is now accused of more serious crimes in Tennessee, according to police.

Jeffrey Willard Wooten, 49, was taken into custody Friday afternoon in Knoxville after allegedly killing a man, carjacking a vehicle and leading police on a chase, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said.

Deputies were called to a Hunters Ridge Way home around noon after a woman reported that her vehicle had been taken at gunpoint and her brother had been shot, the Sheriff’s Office said.

The woman told police she and her mother pulled into the mother’s driveway and were confronted by a man with a gun. The man, later identified as Wooten, took the woman’s vehicle and fled, police said.

When the woman entered the house, she found her brother, Randy Lands, 44, dead. He had been shot and killed according to police.

On May 1, Norcross police said Wooten entered a Waffle House in Buford wearing a ski mask and coveralls and carrying a pitchfork and forced employees into a back room. Wooten then grabbed the cash register and tried to leave the restaurant.

Outside of the Waffle House, Wooten dropped his pitchfork, according to police. But he held on to the cash register. Two restaurant employees than grabbed the pitchfork and used it to smash the back window of Wooten’s truck, police said.

Investigators believe Wooten may have been injured while attempting to leave the restaurant. He refused to stop for police and later abandoned his truck, police said.

Wooten had eluded capture until Friday, when he crashed and was arrested in Knox County, police said. He was booked into the Knox County Jail.