A man accused of killing his wife picked the wrong Walton County hayfield to hide in.
A family living nearby not only spotted Jerome Mobley in the field, but also made sure he stayed put until deputies could arrive.
Brantley Wommack told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he was in his backyard when he saw the man about 70 feet away.
“We were sitting out there grilling and the dogs started going crazy,” Wommack said.
The man, later identified as Mobley, started running when he saw the Wommacks. Brantley didn’t know who the man was, but he knew he was somewhere he shouldn’t have been.
Credit: Walton County Sheriff's Office
Credit: Walton County Sheriff's Office
“If he had not had gotten up and run the way that he did, I probably wouldn’t have thought anything about it,” Wommack said. “Something about the way he scurried away from the dogs, it clicked with me that he was running from something.”
Wommack went inside and got his father, Mark, and they went back outside, armed with a gun. The father and son called for the man to stop.
“We heard a gunshot go off and he had shot himself in the face,” Wommack said.
That’s when his father realized the man in the field was Mobley, who had been on the run for two days after allegedly killing his wife.
“Jerome, stay on the ground,” Mark Wommack told the injured man.
The Wommacks then called 911 and waited for deputies to arrive, Sheriff Joe Chapman said.
“Their efforts led to the arrest of Jerome Mobley,” Chapman said Tuesday.
Their efforts also earned the Wommacks the $5,500 reward that had been posted. On Tuesday, Chapman presented the father and son with a check. Brantley Wommack said he and his father plan to split the reward with his grandmother, who also lives in the home.
The money is a welcome surprise, Wommack said. But he doesn’t consider himself a hero.
“My adrenaline was rushing so fast running out there,” he said. “I guess you could say we got lucky; $5,500 just kinda fell in the backyard.”
Mobley remained at Grady Memorial Hospital late Tuesday but is expected to make a full recovery, Chapman said.
