One Texas homeowner who survived a carjacking attempt that involved a gun in his face came away with a story to tell of two “bamboozled” would-be thieves.
Houston police released a surveillance video of the Jan. 25 incident on Friday.
The video shows the man putting trash in a can when a young man in a hoodie pointed a gun with an extended magazine at him.
“The gun was in my face the whole time,” the homeowner, who asked not to be identified, told KRIV-TV.
The video shows the would-be carjacker demanding the keys to the man’s car.
“Came up on me with a loaded 9mm gun with an extended clip, probably at least 40 bullets or so. So, you know, they wanted the car,” the homeowner said.
Then the plan, such as it was, fell apart.
Thief One, with the gun, did not know that the keys were in a backpack that had been on the passenger seat, and that his chances of getting them went south after Thief Two took the bag and ran off. No bag, no keys, no car.
“The kid got out of my car who had the gun, and he took a shot at me and his friend, buddy, accomplice, whatever you want to call him,” the homeowner said.
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The would-be thief dropped the bag as he was running off.
“And I continued to chase him up to where I saw him get in the car,” the homeowner said.
The Houston Police Department video showed the two suspects getting into a blue Chevy Camaro and leaving the scene.
The homeowner was not injured.
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“Usually when they say give me your keys, somebody gives it to them right away, and they’re gone. It didn’t happen that way, so they were bamboozled,” he said.
“They certainly didn’t know what to do. Luckily, it was a bunch of errors, because I probably wouldn’t be talking to you today,” he said.
The man’s greatest concern was the timing of the incident.
“If it was 20 minutes later, you’d have a hundred children that walk by here every day,” he said. “I think what’s most scary. People right now are just willing to do anything at any time.”
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A description of the incident was posted along with the police YouTube video.
“The complainant informed the suspects that his keys were in his vehicle inside a backpack,” Houston Police Robbery said. “As the complainant reached into his vehicle to get his backpack, the second suspect opened the passenger door and took the backpack from him.
“That suspect then fled the scene with the backpack (and car keys) while the first suspect entered the complainant’s vehicle in an attempt to steal it, but was unable to start it because the second suspect had the keys when he fled.
“The complainant started to run after the suspect that had his backpack and heard gunshots coming from the first suspect, who was running behind him. The suspect that had the backpack also heard the gunshots, causing him to drop the backpack.”
Police released the video Friday in hopes of identifying the suspects, who are still at large.
They urged anyone with information about the suspects to call 713-222-TIPS (8477) or go to www.crime-stoppers.org.
