HOUSTON – Four juveniles are in custody after a crime spree in southwest Houston.
According to police, the spree started when four armed teens carjacked a Pizza Hut delivery man on Deering Drive and Beltway 8 around 10:30 p.m. Sunday.
Officers said the carjackers took off in the delivery driver’s silver Impala.
Around three hours later, a friend of the delivery man found the car nearby at South Glen Drive near Beltway 8.
The friend approached the vehicle, thinking it was empty, but at that moment the carjackers started shooting at him from inside the Impala, authorities said.
“Apparently, a friend of the pizza guy went looking for the car, he located the car. As he approached the car, the suspects shot at him,” said Lt. Larry Crowso, with the Houston Police Department.
Officers said the teens left the scene and headed to the Unity Pointe Apartments on Windswept Lane near Hillcroft Avenue around 3:30 a.m. Monday.
The group then carjacked a father and daughter going into their apartment and sped off in the pair's red Tacoma, police said.
The two had just left work and were dropping off a coworker at the apartment complex when the carjacking happened, according to the father and daughter, who did not want to be identified.
“I was afraid for mine and my dad’s (lives)," the daughter said. "We just got out of work and it was a good day and this happens. I was in the passenger side and my dad was obviously driving. These two people come out of the car and they just point guns at us, telling us to get out of the car or else they were gonna kill us."
The two complied, and the group of teens took off in the truck with more than $1,500 inside. The two said it was a terrifying experience.
“Any time you’re going to your apartment, somebody comes up with guns and robs you, it’s a very frightening experience, but neither of them had to be transported to the hospital, so that’s good,” said Crowson.
Minutes later, an officer spotted both vehicles traveling together. However, when the teens spotted police, the cars split up and the drivers led officers on a chase, police said.
Police followed the driver in the Impala through a neighborhood before the driver lost control and hit a curb near Renwick Drive and Sylmar Road.
Other officers followed the driver of the red truck to Bellaire Boulevard near Beltway 8, where the vehicle stopped and both people inside surrendered.
According to police, one of the boys is 16 years old and the others are 15 years old.
Editor's note: Police said the people carjacked at the apartment complex were a father and daughter, not a couple like previously believed.