Man arrested in connection with Smith County murder

FLINT, Texas (KLTV) - Smith County detectives began investigating after someone reported a man had been shot and was lying on the side of a road in Flint.

At about 2 a.m. on Saturday, authorities received a 911 call about an unresponsive man near the intersection of State Highway 155 and Oakridge Drive (CR 1182), according to a release from the Smith County Sheriff’s Office. Officers found that he had been shot, and after being taken to a hospital in Tyler by EMS, he was pronounced dead.

The victim has since been identified as James Littlejohn, 39.

Smith County Investigators and the Crime Scene Unit responded to the scene, where they learned the man had been a passenger in a car before being shot. Authorities said he was picked up in the Lakeway Harbor subdivision. The release says the car was driven by a woman, and a man in the backseat pulled a gun and tried to rob the victim, who was in the front seat. The suspect allegedly shot the victim, who jumped out of the car, ran across the highway and collapsed on the side of the road.

The suspect left the scene, possibly headed south on State Highway 155 toward Frankston, investigators said. Smith County investigators have identified the suspect as John Floyd McDaniel, 55, of Kilgore, and gained information indicating he was in Shreveport, Louisiana. At about 10:45 a.m., Shreveport police arrested McDaniel at a motel on I-20 near the airport. The release says he was taken into custody together with his 16-year-old son without incident.

McDaniel has been booked into the Caddo Parrish Jail on an unrelated warrant as of April 16, and his son has been brought back to Smith County by detectives. The sheriff’s office said they are in the process of obtaining an arrest warrant for capital murder for McDaniel.

The body of the victim has been sent to Dallas for autopsy.