By NC WANTED Staff

Posted: Jul 8, 2008
Updated: Oct 23, 2008

HARNETT COUNTY — HARNETT COUNTY: After more than five months on the run, Target Twenty fugitive Delvin Lamont Hilliard is behind bars.

Authorities told NC WANTED that around 11:00 am on October 10, 2008, a clerk from a local jewelry store in Dunn, North Carolina called police to report two suspicious individuals who had just left. The clerk said the two men appeared nervous while inside the store. The clerk gave a description of the car they left in – a black Cadillac with Pennsylvania license tags.

Dunn police began canvassing the area for the Cadillac. A patrolman found the car outside of Buddy’s Jewelers on West Cumberland Street. A man was sitting in the driver’s seat. When the officer pulled into the parking lot, he noticed the driver starting to reverse the vehicle. The driver was eventually identified as Delvin Lamont Hilliard.

Hilliard got around the patrol car, went over a curb and made a dash for the highway. Though a high speed chase briefly ensued, the officer called it off to protect other drivers on the highway. Eyewitnesses said at one point, the Cadillac reached speeds of up to 80 miles per hour.

Hilliard continued down the highway. When he got to the intersection of Cumberland and Clinton Avenue, he was involved in crashes with three different cars. Investigators said after hitting the cars, Hilliard abandoned the car and fled on foot. Officers arrested him a few blocks away at the intersection of Divine and Elm Streets.

Hilliard sustained some minor injuries from the car crashes. He was taken to the hospital for treatment, and then transported to the Harnett County jail. One other person received minor injuries, but no one else was hurt.

The two other individuals that Hilliard was with were detained inside the jewelry store. They were both found in possession of firearms. Dunn Police told NC WANTED that about three months earlier, one of the men had stolen a piece of jewelry at the same store that was valued at approximately $20,000.

Law enforcement said they believe the men were most likely planning to rob the jewelry store that day, but never got the chance to do so. Hilliard would have been the getaway vehicle, ready and waiting for the two to run outside with the stolen goods.

Hilliard was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, hit and run and eluding arrest.

Hilliard made NC WANTED’s Target Twenty list on charges of second-degree kidnapping, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and assault with a deadly weapon.

On May 6, 2008 at 1:45 pm, Hilliard allegedly called his estranged wife to drive him around Fayetteville while he looked for jobs. While driving, the two broke out into an argument. Police say that’s when Hilliard pulled out a pocket knife and stabbed the victim repeatedly in the leg.

After parking in a residential area off Helen Street in Fayetteville, Hilliard shoved the victim out of the car and sped away.