SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio police officers who were searching inside a crashed car Thursday morning found what looked like a high-powered weapon inside the vehicle.
An officer could be seen removing the weapon from the wreckage, then holding up what appeared to be a rifle of sorts with a high-capacity magazine attached.
The car rolled over around 2 a.m. and crashed into a parking lot next to an auto repair shop on Jackson Keller Road near San Pedro Avenue.
According to officers there, the driver had run from Castle Hills police and led them on a brief chase.
A Castle Hills police officer at the scene told KSAT 12 News that his department had terminated the chase a few minutes prior to the crash after the car reached speeds of about 80 mph.
He said the officer began pursuing the car after the driver ran a red light near Loop 410 and Jackson Keller.
SAPD later got the call about the crash and found the wrecked car on its side inside the parking lot, lodged between a chain link fence and a row of parked cars.
They said they also found two men, 23- and 43-years-old, on the ground nearby. Both had suffered critical injuries and were rushed to a hospital.
Police shut down the road for several hours while they investigated.
CPS Energy crews also were called in to replace a utility pole that had been hit by the car and torn in two.
The crash caused brief power outages to some homes in the area.
A tow truck driver spent about 30 minutes moving cars around in the parking lot in order to reach the suspects’ vehicle.
Many of those other cars sustained damage.
The two men who were injured and hospitalized are expected to face criminal charges, police said.