SAN ANTONIO – It was an eventful Monday morning for Bexar County Sherriff’s deputies pursuing two suspects.
“My understanding is that they were involved in an attempted robbery over off of Lakebend drive,” Said Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar.
The incident caught the attention of deputies who tried to follow and arrest the suspects, but after ditching the getaway vehicle used, Salazar said the perpetrators’ crime spree continued when one of the men tried to carjack a man.
“That’s my momma’s truck, so I can’t let him have momma’s truck,” said the man, who didn’t want to be identified after almost becoming a victim. “I seen him unwrapping a gun. And he had it wrapped up in a bunch of t-shirts. And so I pushed the door open a little more, and I took off running. I ran out into the middle of (FM) 78.”
But the suspect was determined.
Salazar said the suspect ran to The Evergreen Lube Stop on FM 78 and stole a car in the middle of an oil change. Evergreen Lube Stop owner Mahmoud Qadar said he was down in the oil pit and had just begun to drain the oil from the 2010 Honda when he saw it rolling backwards. The oil plug was still in his hand.
“I was shocked. I was shocked,” Qadar said. “He (the suspect) went the back way and I saw the police come in and this (the front) way... I stopped the police. I told them he (the suspect) stole the car ... And the police went back chasing him again.”
Salazar said it wasn’t hard for deputies to follow the oil-covered car, which was also leaving behind a trail of oil. The car eventually came to a stop near Walzem Road and Interstate 35 after a small collision with a patrol car. Salazar said the suspect took off on foot, leaving behind his gun.
After a foot chase and scuffle with two deputies, the man was shocked with a Taser and arrested.
It’s unclear when the second suspect was apprehended, but between the two, Salazar said the felony charges they face include attempt to commit aggravated assault, attempt to commit aggravated robbery, attempting to take a weapon from an officer and evading arrest in a vehicle.
