Man Shot while Checking on His Property

JACKSONVILLE – A 73-year-old man is in a Tyler hospital after interrupting a burglary on his own property near Jacksonville. It happened around 1:30 Saturday afternoon on County Road 3303, just west of Jacksonville. Cherokee County officials say while checking on his property, the man apparently interrupted 2 Hispanic men burglarizing a storage building on the land. The property owner blocked the men in by parking his truck in the opening of the gate. Then, officials say, the burglars shot the man at least twice, threw him from his truck, backed his truck out, and then escaped in their car.

“He was able to identify the vehicle just as being a smaller 4-door sedan; it was a dark color…maroon or dark green in color, he wasn’t really sure,” said Captain John Raffield with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Dept. The victim says it was a newer style license plate containing 3 characters separate from the last 4 characters. He told officials the second part of the license plate numbers started with N4 (XXX-N4XX). A passerby found the man on the ground and called 911. He’s now in ICU at a Tyler hospital. Anyone with any information on the incident should call the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department at (903) 683-2271.