A late-night crime spree on Dauphin Street ended with an arrest early Sunday morning after Mobile police say a man assaulted a fast-food employee and then carjacked another driver at gunpoint within minutes of each other.
According to police, the trouble began around 9:55 p.m. Saturday when an employee at a Dauphin Street Wendy’s was approached in the restaurant’s parking lot by an armed man. The suspect allegedly demanded the worker let him into the closed restaurant, and when the employee refused, the man struck him in the face with the handgun before running off.
Just a few minutes later, police say the same suspect approached a different man a short distance away on Dauphin Street as he was getting into his own vehicle. Officers say the suspect pointed a gun at the driver and demanded his keys. The man complied, and the suspect fled the scene in the stolen car.
Mobile police officers pursued the vehicle and caught up with the suspect a short time later, bringing the brief chase to an end. The man was taken into custody and later booked into Mobile County Metro Jail in the early morning hours.
Investigators identified the suspect as 23-year-old Gerald Vandural Walker Jr. He faces charges of first-degree robbery and second-degree assault in connection with the Dauphin Street incidents. Jail records also show Walker was booked on a pair of outstanding traffic-related charges and one count of carrying a pistol without a permit.
Beyond the new charges, jail records indicate Walker was also being held to face a third-degree theft charge stemming from an earlier case out of Spanish Fort. Court records show this was not Walker’s first brush with law enforcement; he was arrested as recently as this past February on a separate charge of carrying a pistol without a permit.
Mobile police did not report any additional injuries beyond the initial assault, and no further suspects were named in connection with the case. The rapid succession of the assault and carjacking, both occurring within a few blocks and a matter of minutes, prompted a swift response from patrol officers already in the area.
The case remains under investigation by the Mobile Police Department as it moves through the Mobile County court system. Anyone with additional information about the incidents was asked to contact local police.