Tennessee absconder killed in gunfight with former CNN reporter had extensive criminal history of thefts

Thursday night, Albuquerque police identified the man killed in a shootout at a west side Motel 6 with former CNN reporter Chuck de Caro as 27-year-old Tomorio Walton, who APD says is an absconder out of Memphis, Tennessee.

APD spokesperson Tanner Tixier said it is unknown how long Walton had been in the Albuquerque area or if he is connected to other crimes here.

However, a Tennessee court records search shows Walton has an extensive criminal history filled with property theft, vandalism and burglary charges.

View a list of all of Walton’s charges in Tennessee here.

Court records show Walton’s last arrests were in December of last year. On Christmas Eve, he was charged with vandalism and pleaded guilty. Just five days later, he was charged with burglarizing a vehicle and being in possession of burglary tools. He pleaded guilty to having burglary tools.

He had a probation violation in May of 2013 after committing a property theft.

But court records show 18 more property theft charges have been filed against him in Shelby Co., Tennessee since 2007.

Court records show 37 total cases against Walton since his first documented crime – property theft and evading arrest – was committed in June 2007.

Most of his charges involve property theft or vandalism of objects under $500, but he does have a few violent charges. In March 2013, he was arrested for domestic assault with bodily harm. He later pleaded guilty.

A year earlier, he pleaded guilty to patronizing a prostitute. He was indicted for an Aug. 2010 arrest on assault with bodily harm, vandalism, theft and auto burglary charges.

In 2009, he was indicted for an arrest in January of that year for attempted aggravated robbery and two counts of assault.

His fiance, who wanted to remain anonymous, told KOB Friday that Walton was in town visiting her and ran out of money. She said he needed enough to get back to Tennessee, got caught up with drug dealers and was selling drugs the night of the shooting.

Police have not confirmed those details at this point.

Walton’s criminal past seems to be consistent with the story former CNN anchor Lynne Russell told KOB about the incident that occurred late Tuesday.

She told KOB she and her husband, de Caro, decided to stop at the motel for the night because they were tired after a long day of traveling and had their dog with them. When she went out to the car to get something and returned to the room, she said an armed man was at the door with a handgun.

“He pushed me into the room and that’s when my husband came out of the shower and saw what was happening,” Russell told KOB Wednesday. “We tried to calm him, confuse him and do everything we could do to just come out of it in one piece.”

When it became clear to Russell that the man may shoot them, she told him they would look in her purse for something. Russell said she and her husband have concealed carry licenses, and she had a gun inside her purse.

“He wound up taking my husband’s briefcase, and instead of just taking it and leaving, he took it and went over and started firing at my husband. And Chuck fired back and it was a shootout,” she said.

De Caro remains in an Albuquerque hospital recovering from three or four gunshot wounds, according to Albuquerque police.

Walton died after the exchange with de Caro.

De Caro is a former CNN investigative reporter and a consultant for the Pentagon.

Russell was an anchor for CNN Headline News and retired about 10 years ago. She was not hurt in the incident.

Originally published at KOB.com