Hostage helps end rape, murder rampage

CLOVIS, N.M. (KRQE) - A violent rampage in Clovis Wednesday night ended with a woman doing something heroic to help police catch the man believed to be behind it all.

Police said that man raped a woman in her yard, then killed her friend and took two other women hostage at gunpoint.

Officers were called just before 7 p.m. Wednesday after a woman said she was approached by Jimmy J. Reagan, demanding money. Police said when she didn't to give him any money, he raped her at gunpoint.

Reagan, 31, then kicked in the back door and shot and killed her friend Shondel D. Lofton, 35. Meanwhile woman escaped in her van.

"As she was driving away, the suspect ran after her and fired a shot at her van, which struck the vehicle but didn't hit her," said Captain Patrick Whitney, of the Clovis Police Department.

When police arrived, they found Lofton dead inside the home and the killer gone. Witnesses told police Reagan tried to carjack one driver and failed, then kidnapped two women in their van at gunpoint.

"One of (the witnesses) was actually a husband that saw his wife was being abducted," Whitney said.

Sheriff's deputies and New Mexico State Police caught up with Reagan and said he pointed a gun at police during the chase.

Responding officers said along the way, Reagan stopped at at least two homes where he held one of his hostages at gunpoint while trying to break in.

The homeowners called police, but at one of those homes the homeowner fired his gun scaring Reagan away.

Officers chased the van down Rope Road where it finally stopped. At that point, one hostage escaped, then Reagan emerged.

"He wound up coming up out of the vehicle, had her around the neck with a gun to her head and kept telling officers to back away or he'd shoot her," Whitney recalled.

He took the hostage to a front porch on Rope Road, where officers surrounded him.

"In a situation like that, when an officer has a clear shot, he's going to take a shot at the suspect," said Whitney. "We're not going to allow him to get more hostages or get in a barricaded area."

But the victim was able to pull the gun away from her head.

"At that point, the state policeman was able to step in, and pointed his barrel of the shotgun into the suspect's chest, at which point he dropped the gun," Whitney said. "And the lady got a hold of it and threw the gun away."

Reagan was immediately taken into custody. The two hostages were not seriously injured.

Police said Reagan admitted to the killing. He's charged with an open count of murder with police anticipating more felony charges.

Detectives are still investigating whether all the victims in the case were random and to see if Reagan was drunk or high during this rampage.

Clovis police said Reagan does have a history of violence with them through the years. Detectives also suspect he may be responsible for burglaries.