Key Takeaways
- A Rankin County man, John White, used his firearm training to stop a carjacking attempt on Dixie Road without firing a shot.
- The suspect, Ronnie Percy Holmes, approached White and demanded his truck after abandoning a stolen SUV on railroad tracks.
- White, a firearms store owner, drew his handgun and kept the suspect at gunpoint until deputies arrived shortly after.
- Deputies arrested Holmes without incident; he faces charges for attempted carjacking and obstructing a railway.
- Sheriff Bailey praised the quick response of dispatchers and deputies, noting the potential for tragedy in the situation.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
STAR, MS — A Rankin County man who owns a firearms store and training facility drew his handgun on a man who tried to take his truck on Dixie Road Saturday morning, held him at gunpoint until deputies arrived, and never fired a shot, according to a statement from Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey.
The motorist is John White, founder and CEO of Two Gun Tactical in Flowood, who described the encounter in his own words, as reported by WLBT.
The Sheriff’s Office said the morning started with 911 calls around 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 3, reporting a red Chevrolet SUV with a Florida plate traveling southbound in the northbound lanes of U.S. Highway 49. Deputies began responding. More callers reported the SUV had turned onto Dixie Road in the Star community, then drove onto the railroad tracks near the Airgas facility and stopped there, blocking the rails.
Dispatchers contacted the railroad and learned a freight train was already headed toward the location. The train stopped roughly 200 yards from the SUV.
After leaving the vehicle on the tracks, the Sheriff’s Office said, the suspect walked to Dixie Road and approached a passing motorist, allegedly trying to enter the vehicle and take it from the driver. That driver was White, on his way to work.
White said he rolled down his window and asked the man if he needed help. The answer came fast.
“He immediately ran to the driver’s side of my door and said, I want your truck,” White told WLBT. “And started violently pulling on the handle. I told him to get back; he reached in and tried to unlock it by pulling the knob.”
A hand inside the door is no longer a conversation about a ride. White’s answer was distance and retention, not volume.
“I pulled my firearm, backed away in the driver’s seat so he couldn’t grab my firearm,” White said. “I told him to get back. Steady slow commands.”
White runs a training company, and the decision point was settled in his head before any of this happened. “Quick demands towards the guy: get back, get back. I already processed in my mind when I’m going to shoot when there’s a threat to me,” he said. “I had not gotten to that point. But when he looked at my gun, I put my hand on the trigger, I’m thankful I did not have to shoot.”
Deputies arrived moments later, after other drivers had also called about the SUV. White said the man tried the back door of the truck when he heard the deputies coming, then walked around to the front of it. White stepped out with his firearm and told him to stop. A deputy moved in and ended up between the two men.
The Sheriff’s Office identified the suspect as Ronnie Percy Holmes, 22, of Florida. He was taken into custody without further incident and transported to the University of Mississippi Medical Center for evaluation before being booked into the Rankin County Jail. He is charged with attempted carjacking and obstructing a railway and was expected to appear before Rankin County Court Judge David Morrow. The Mississippi Office of Homeland Security and the Jackson office of the FBI were notified because of the intentional obstruction of the railway. Those are charges, not convictions, and the case now belongs to prosecutors and the court.
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“This incident could have ended in tragedy,” Bailey said in the statement. “I am extremely proud of our dispatchers who immediately recognized the danger and took action to get the approaching train stopped. I am equally proud of our deputies for their quick response, and I am thankful for the citizen who was prepared to protect himself and safely held the suspect until our deputies arrived.”
White was carrying his own permitted handgun and said he does not leave the house without it. “I train all my students there’s two things that will get you killed,” he said. “One, that it will never happen to me and two, I’m in a safe place. Again, just a normal day of me going to work in a huge truck wrapped in Two Gun Tactical, but he came after me.”
