Police: City Councilman Wounded In Apparent Carjacking

A West Virginia city councilman was shot and his wife and mother-in-law were briefly taken hostage in an apparent carjacking, authorities said.

Clarksburg Councilman Jim Malfregeot was on his porch and the women were in a car Sunday night when the suspect appeared, Clarksburg Police Chief Mark Kiddy told The Exponent Telegram.

Malfregeot was hospitalized and the women were released a short time later on U.S. 19 North between Clarksburg and Shinnston, Kiddy said.

“She told me that she was able to talk him into releasing them on 19,” Kiddy said of Malfregeot’s wife.

Kiddy said the suspect, Antonio DeJesus, 32, was arrested without incident at a gas station by Bridgeport Police and the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department. The suspect was on supervised release in a Northern District of West Virginia drug trafficking case and didn’t attend a supervised release revocation hearing this month, Kiddy said.

Malfregeot was in guarded condition after surgery, Kiddy said. He has served on the council for eight years, including a term as vice-mayor.