HOUSTON – Two carjacking victims are processing what happened after a murder suspect attempted to steal their vehicles in front of a Spring Branch ISD elementary school on Thursday.
This happened as authorities said a Spring Branch ISD officer fatally shot the suspect after allegedly killing his father in a prior incident.
KPRC 2 Investigates identified the suspect as Omar Rodarte.
The incident began at Buffalo Creek Elementary School where Spring Branch ISD leaders told KPRC 2′s Rilwan Balogun that the suspect tried entering the school but the doors were locked.
Police said the suspect then carjacked Elizabeth Aguilar, who had just dropped her child at school.
“Then he got off and got over (the hood),” she said. “And then he asked me to stop and get out of my car. He started getting his gun and pointed it at me. He took me out of the car with the gun. Took the car and just left.”
Aguilar tells Balogun that she feels okay, and glad that she’s still alive.
Police said Rodarte carjacked another person, Mike Noble, who was visiting Houston for business. He is still processing becoming a victim himself.
“I’m feeling anxious still but I’m starting to calm down. It’s starting to sink in what just happened and how out of this mind the situation was,” he said.
Noble recalls driving to work when the murder suspect, Rodarte, with a gun in hand. approached him.
Spring Branch ISD officers chased the vehicle with the murder suspect inside. Unbeknownst to Noble, he pulled off to the side after noticing sirens.
Surveillance video obtained by KPRC 2 showed Rodarte getting out of the stolen vehicle, and pointing a gun at Noble’s passenger side as Noble walked around his rental vehicle.
Noble opens the door and ducks behind the Mazda as Rodarte moves toward the driver’s side. He then pointed the gun toward a Spring Branch ISD officer.
“It happened so fast I was trying to...I think survival instinct,” Noble said. “I don’t know I just got out of the way, got down, recovered in a ditch in the side of the road.”
As Noble waited hours for police to complete the investigation, he was back in his rental six hours later for his flight back home.
“I feel grateful that I’m here, honestly,” Noble said.