HOUSTON – Police have arrested one man and are searching for three others in connection with the armed robbery of a Jack in the Box restaurant in the 5400 block of North Shepherd Street.
Sergeant James Moncrief with the Harris County Constable's Office, Precinct 1, says the men rushed into the restaurant around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, at the height of the lunch rush, and demanded money from two customers and employees.
"They robbed the restaurant, they also robbed individuals of their personal belongings. They left the scene in a black Toyota 4Runner," Moncrief said.
A customer who had stopped there for lunch saw the men pull up in the parking lot before they went in and immediately knew what was about to happen.
"They started putting on gloves and masks and stuff, started coming in, and I just went out the front door and called 911." he said.
The man, who only gave his first name as Kirk, says he followed them when they left to help police track them.
"I followed them down the road a little bit," he said. "I thought the cops had 'em, and so I turned away and come back."
An HPD patrolman pulled the SUV over and arrested the driver according investigators. The man was alone, and no weapons were found in the vehicle.. The other suspects remain at large.
The restaurant is located next door to the Houston Emergency Center, where police dispatchers are housed, and less than a mile and a half from the HPD Acres Homes Command center, but the first officers on the scene were two Harris County Precinct 1 deputy constables who were working a traffic stop about a block away. Another customer flagged them down after the robbers left.