A harrowing incident in Georgia has left a community shaken after a teenager allegedly turned on his own mother in a grocery store parking lot, attempting to strangle her before fleeing in her vehicle and leading authorities on a dangerous high-speed chase.
Elijah Jase Parker, 19, faces a dozen criminal charges following the October 22 incident in Cartersville, a city located approximately 45 miles north of Atlanta. According to Cartersville Police Captain Greg Sparacio, the attack occurred without warning as Parker and his mother, Laura Ann Moore, sat together in her 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe outside a Publix supermarket.
“Out of the blue, he just started choking her,” Sparacio told Fox 5 Atlanta. “She felt she was going to lose consciousness.”
Mother Escapes to Nearby Restaurant
Moore managed to break free from her son’s grip and ran to safety inside a nearby Five Guys restaurant, where she alerted authorities. In her statement to police, she expressed her belief that Parker would have killed her had she not escaped when she did.
What Parker told investigators after his arrest painted an even more chilling picture of his intentions. According to Sparacio, the teenager admitted that his goal had been to kill his mother. “He was questioned as to why he ran, he did say that his intent was to kill his mother, and he failed because she had escaped the vehicle,” the captain said.
News radio station WBHF reported that Parker provided additional disturbing details to police, stating “he had been trying to kill his mother, placed a plastic bag over her head, and stole the car after she escaped. He said he fled the traffic stop because he knew he did not have a license.”
Chase Reaches Nearly 100 MPH
Despite having no driver’s license, Parker took control of his mother’s SUV and drove off from the scene. Police immediately issued an alert for the vehicle, setting in motion a search that would span multiple counties.
About two hours after the initial attack, officers in the nearby town of Adairsville spotted the stolen Chevrolet Tahoe. When they attempted to conduct a traffic stop, Parker accelerated, initiating a dangerous pursuit through the area.
The chase reached speeds approaching 100 mph as it crossed from Bartow County into neighboring Gordon County. The high-speed flight came to an abrupt end when Parker attempted to make a turn at excessive speed, lost control of the SUV, and crashed into a Kia Optima that was stopped at a stop sign.
The driver of the Kia required medical attention but fortunately did not sustain serious injuries in the collision. Officers extracted Parker from the wrecked vehicle and placed him under arrest.
Facing 12 Criminal Charges
Parker remains in custody at the Bartow County jail, where he faces 12 separate charges stemming from the incident. The charges include aggravated assault by strangulation, felonious theft, driving while unlicensed, fleeing a police officer, and false imprisonment, the latter presumably relating to his attack on his mother.
The incident may have been foreshadowed by earlier warning signs. According to the New York Post, Parker had been arrested just weeks earlier in September on a misdemeanor charge of making terroristic threats. He was released on his own recognizance after spending only a few days in custody.
Those previous charges may provide context for the parking lot attack. Before the assault began, Moore told investigators that Parker had expressed fear about going to prison, according to the Post. She claimed he told her “he wasn’t about to go to prison — and if cops tried to stop him, he’d shoot it out with them.”
The case highlights ongoing concerns about threat assessment and the challenges law enforcement faces in predicting violent behavior, particularly when previous arrests don’t result in extended detention. The fact that Parker was free on his own recognizance despite facing terroristic threat charges has raised questions about the decision-making process in such cases.
As Parker awaits his day in court on the extensive list of charges, his mother is left to process the trauma of an attack allegedly carried out by her own son. The investigation into the full circumstances surrounding the incident continues, with authorities working to piece together what led to the violent outburst in the Publix parking lot that October afternoon.
The case serves as a stark reminder of the unpredictable nature of domestic violence and the split-second decisions that can mean the difference between life and death. For Moore, her quick thinking and ability to escape her son’s grip likely saved her life that day in Cartersville.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/crime/2026/11/01/georgia-police-teen-strangled-his-mom-with-intent-to-kill-before-stealing-her-car-and-leading-cops-on-100-mph-chase/