A machete-wielding man is on the run after allegedly committing a crime while he was supposed to be on the way to be sentenced for another, according to a news release.
Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis told reporters on Thursday that Carlton Williams of Cedar Hill was allegedly involved in a road rage shooting in Duncanville and had fled the scene.
Later that same day, Williams, 35, was a no-show at the courthouse when a jury sentenced him to 43 years in prison for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, Willis said.
According to the release, the sentencing stemmed from an August 2021 road rage incident in which Williams, driving a large white box truck, nearly side-swiped a car on the Dallas North Tollway.
He became angry when the driver of the car he’d nearly struck tried to get his attention. Williams then chased the vehicle to a stop light at Legacy and Parkwood in Plano and exited his truck to confront the victim.
When the other driver didn’t respond to Williams banging on his window, Williams used a machete to slash the victim’s tires and then fled the scene.
Williams was convicted after several witnesses testified to seeing him slash the tires. The Plano Police Department interviewed witnesses, reviewed surveillance footage, and matched Williams’ fingerprints to the victim’s vehicle.
During the sentencing portion of the trial, the jury also heard of three more road rage incidents Williams was involved in, WFAA reported. Two of them occurred in Dallas County and involved Williams allegedly wielding a machete to threaten drivers.
He was also convicted in 2008 for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and continuous violation of a protective order in 2015.
Both of those incidents occurred in Dallas County, and Williams also has multiple misdemeanor convictions, according to the release.
According to Willis, the Texas Rangers and the Duncanville and Cedar Hill police departments are searching for Williams in connection with Thursday’s incident.
“Williams is a prime example of the violent and aggressive repeat offender who innocent and unsuspecting drivers don’t see coming. And clearly, nothing will deter him, not even being in his own felony jury trial. My office has provided all of the information and assistance possible to law enforcement to ensure that Williams is found as soon as possible,” Willis said in the release following the sentencing.
In nearby Dallas, crime is aggressively reoccurring, and there have been more than 1,800 cases of aggravated assault reported, according to the Dallas criminal analytics dashboard.
