Courtesy Jason Whitely, WFAA
DALLAS – A jogger out for his morning run on White Rock Creek Trail was targeted at random and hacked to death with a machete at about 7:55 a.m., witnesses and police said.
Investigators said the victim, a white man between 25 and 30 years old, was killed in the attack and had no identification on him.
"He was found on the trail with injuries consistent with a large-edged weapon," said Deputy Chief Rob Sherwin, with Dallas police.
Investigators said the suspect, 21-year-old Thomas Johnson admitted to the crime and was apparently upset about being evicted from his home recently.
Multiple people witnessed the murder and called police. Officers responded to the trail near 8500 Walnut Hill Lane within minutes.
"I see a silhouette of a man raising a machete up over his head and down over his head," said Brandon Davenport, a bicyclist who witnessed the attack. "I probably saw six or seven blows."
After riding to a safe distance and warning another jogger and second bicyclist, Davenport said he called 911.
Paramedics rushed the victim to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital but doctors couldn't save him.
Thomas Johnson, 21, was arrested after a man was hacked to death by a machete on the White Rock trail. (Photo: WFAA)
Johnson was captured after walking to a nearby equestrian center and calling 911 himself to report what happened.
Records show Johnson was charged with burglary last year but has no violent crimes on his record.
Tonight, he's in the Dallas County Jail facing a charge of murder.
