Town gives good Sams key to city | ABC11 Raleigh-Durham

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By ABC11

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

CHAPEL HILL Brothers Joey and Freddie Shelton, as well as another watchful citizen, were recognized for their efforts Monday night.

The Shelton brothers and a woman named Melissa Williams got a standing ovation Monday, from a town that's grateful for what they did on May 12. All three now hold the key to the Town of Chapel Hill.

"I just consider myself as a guy who likes to see good in the world and this girl was in trouble," Joey Shelton said.

The brothers are credited with stopping 26-year-old Theodore Walker from allegedly kidnapping a UNC student in broad daylight. Police say as Walker drove away from the scene, he hit Joey with his car, a difficult sight for his brother to take in.

"I was shocked, looking at my brother in terror, hoping that he'd be alright," Freddie Shelton said.

Williams happened to be driving by when Joey was hit. She says she didn't know exactly what was going on; all she knew was that the person who seemed to have struck Joey with his car was fleeing the scene.

"It was very hard to see Joey get hit by a car," Williams said. "And I was like, 'Oh, no buddy, you're not getting away with this.'"

Williams wrote down the license plate of the suspect's car and called police, actions that likely helped them arrest Walker.

"They caught him a couple hours later and I don't know if that would have happened if I hadn't gotten that license plate number," Williams said.

Joey says he's in frequent contact with the victim and he's just happy she's ok.

Walker has been charged with second degree kidnapping, assault on a female and assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury.

Police found a loaded shotgun and a baseball bat in Walker's car after the incident. He allegedly had condoms in his back pocket.

"The fact that he had weapons in his car, on this occasion he had a baseball bat and a shotgun in the car," District Attorney Jim Woodall said. "So we feel like it was a very dangerous situation but for those two people, the Shelton brothers who came to her rescue, we just don't know what couldn't happened."

Walker is also accused of having harmed a different woman in Pitt County. That victim ended up in the hospital with serious injuries.