Mississippi man sentenced for 2021 carjacking in which Moody boy pulled his younger sister to safety
A Mississippi man has been sentenced to federal prison for a 2021 carjacking after which a young Moody boy was lauded for pulling his younger sister to safety.
U.S. District Court Judge Corey L. Maze on Friday sentenced Eric Lamar White, 25, to 12 years in prison. He was convicted in December 2022 of carjacking and brandishing a firearm during a violent crime.
The sentencing was announced in a joint statement by Northern District of Alabama U.S. Attorney Prim Escalona and ATF Special Agent in Charge Marcus Watson.
The carjacking happened Jan. 7, 2021, at a gas station in the area of U.S. 411 and Interstate 20. Kristin Walker was putting gas into her vehicle with her two small children – Ethan, then 9, and Audrey, then 6, in the back seat.
Ethan Walker, 9, is being lauded for his bravery after he pulled his 6-year-old sister Audrey to safety during a Jan. 7, 2021 carjacking in Moody. (Contributed)
Authorities said White and co-defendant Kendarian Toran, then 18, were traveling from Jackson to Atlanta on Jan. 7, 2021, in a stolen vehicle with switched tag, trial testimony and evidence showed, when the vehicle began to overheat.
White and Toran, authorities said, decided to carjack the victim at gunpoint. At the time of the carjacking, Walker was in her 2008 Acura TL.
“White and Toran waited for the perfect opportunity to take her car,’’ according to the Friday press release. “White repositioned the overheating stolen car so that Toran could easily jump out and get into the driver’s seat of the Acura with ease.”
Toran then jumped into Walker’s vehicle.
“I actually jumped in on top of him and pulled the keys out of the ignition,’’ Walker told AL.com in 2021. “I couldn’t let him leave with them in the car and the only way I could think to stop him was to pull out the keys.”
Toran put the firearm to the victim’s pregnant belly.
Ethan Walker, 9, is being lauded for his bravery after he pulled his 6-year-old sister Audrey to safety during a Jan. 7, 2021 carjacking in Moody. (Contributed)
Walker explained to him that her kids were in the car and that is when he told her, “Get them out.”
At that moment, Ethan, in what police said “can only be described as an incredible act of bravery and composure” got out of the vehicle and ran around to the rear passenger’s side to get Audrey to safety.
The suspect then fled in the woman’s vehicle.
They ran into the store and called 911. “Ethan was so calm, cool and collected through the whole thing,’’ Walker said. “He was just so smart. He even gave them a description. He knew more than I did.”
White and Toran met at a nearby business parking lot where White abandoned the original stolen vehicle and got into the 2008 Acura TL with Toran, authorities said.
Hours later, White was driving the Acura back to Mississippi with Toran, when Mississippi law enforcement spotted them. A vehicle pursuit ensued for 29 miles on I-20 at speeds over 120 mph with multiple law enforcement officers.
Officers had to spike and force the vehicle into the median on I-20.
When White was arrested, he had his Glock .45 caliber pistol and an Alabama driver’s license belonging to a person matching the description of the victim. The evidence showed that the Glock .45 caliber pistol was purchased by White in October 2020.
Toran pleaded guilty in March 2022 to carjacking and carrying and brandishing a firearm during a violent crime. He was sentenced more than seven years in federal prison.
The ATF investigated the case along with assistance from the FBI Birmingham Division, the Moody Police Department, and multiple Mississippi law enforcement agencies, to include Rankin County Sherriff’s Office, Scott County Sheriff’s Office, and Madison Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brittney Plyler and Kristy Peoples prosecuted the case.