It is a harrowing tale with a shocking twist.
”Both of them told me that the hair on the back of their necks stood up and they thought ‘something's not right,’” said Converse Police Chief Fidel Villegas, who talked about the moment last Sunday when several of his officers disarmed and arrested a capital murder suspect hiding in a culvert in the Copperfield neighborhood.
Just nine miles south of Rolling Oaks Mall, and 18 minutes after armed gunman shot a Good Samaritan to death in a botched robbery, Converse officers responded to a call for a man driving erratically southbound on Loop 1604.
A concerned motorist called Converse Police and said:
“I’m on 1604…and he’s weaving back and forth and he just ran off the road and he crashed into a street sign.”
Converse Officer Judy Avilez, who was on patrol in the area, said that shortly after, she turned onto Coppergate Street. She saw a small sedan with extensive damage parked on the north side of the street. Avilez said that when she found no one in the vehicle, she looked up ownership records and realized the car had been reported stolen.
A neighbor who lives nearby said that she heard a car door slam and started watching to see what would develop.
"I watched the whole thing," the neighbor said. "I looked out the window and I saw that they were pulling their guns out."
Avilez said that she started looking for the driver and found him a few yards away, concealed in an underground box culvert.
“I just had a feeling,” Avilez said. “I mean, you kind of try to place yourself in that situation, ‘Okay, if it was me, where would I have gone? Possibly the ditch.’ And that's where we found him.”
At the time, Avilez was aware of the still-developing situation at Rolling Oaks Mall, but when she entered the culvert, she had no idea the man she faced off with was the prime suspect in a senseless attack that took the life of a man who died trying to protect his wife from harm while they were on a simple shopping trip.
Avilez said that she waited for backup, and when fellow officer Johnathon Korczynski arrived, they confronted the man in the ditch.
All the officers involved in the arrest said that it is not surprising to encounter an armed person.
“We run into a lot of people that are armed. We run into a lot of people that are doing various things,” Sgt. Gil Martinez said. “We don't know what they've done prior to us finding them so, to us, it's just another call that we have to handle. It's a dangerous call, yes, but we have training. We have the equipment and we just handle the call.”
The officers agreed that what was shocking about this incident is that the armed man was fast asleep. They said that they believe he may have been under the influence of drugs.
Avilez said that she immediately saw the man had a handgun tucked in his waistband.
Patrol Officer Tony Clary also assisted. Clary said
“It was still daylight so there was some ambient light for both sides of the ditch,” said Patrol Officer Tony Clary, who assisted Avilez.
Clary said that when the man was confronted, he gave up without a fight.
“He was cooperative,” Clary noted. “He was fairly well outnumbered and so we had a slight advantage on him.”
“And at that time they found a rifle also with him," Martinez added.
Avilez credited the success to teamwork among all the officers who responded.
“It's not really a happy situation, but at the same time, we’re proud,” Korczynski said. “We got somebody off the streets that, it could have happened again; a very high possibility that it could happen again.”
Korczynski added that even though Converse is a small town and his department has only 42 officers, they handle a high volume of calls and they have to be prepared for all types of calls for assistance.
“Without the proper training and equipment and, I mean, who knows? We might not have been prepared for a situation like that. It could have ended differently,” Korczynski said.
Chief Villegas praised his team for bringing a murderous crime spree to a halt.
"I'm very proud of them! They performed very well. We have a great department," said Chief Villegas, who also talked about the importance of being prepared for anything. “We went out last month, ironically, to the San Antonio Police Training Academy, and the officers involved in this were all there and they did some active shooter training, as a matter of fact, and some felony arrest technique training. So it worked out pretty well.”
Chief Villegas praised all the citizens who took the time to report the suspicious vehicle.
“I mean, that worked out perfectly and that speaks well of the public. We'd like to thank people for when they do call in tips like that. It worked out well,” Villegas said.
All the officers involved expressed a sense of sadness and profound loss for the family of the man who died in the mall attack.
“It was kind of surreal and it left kind of mixed feelings. There was sadness. Somebody lost their life.” Clary said. “We know we did a good job.”
Avilez said that while she is proud of her team, a sense of loss remains.
“It's not really a happy situation,” she said.
Avilez noted that she had never arrested a capital murder suspect before.
"I don't think it dawned on me until I got home,” she described. “Then I see my 2-year-old little girl and I'm like, 'Oh my gosh.' I'm glad everything turned out well for us and I got to come home and see my 2-year old daughter again.”