SAN ANTONIO — Authorities say they found several minors and a missing person when troopers stopped a car connected to a kidnapping case out of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, more than 500 miles away from the Alamo City.
A spokesperson with the Texas Department of Public Safety said troopers spotted the Dodge Durango in question in northeast San Antonio on Friday afternoon, and began to follow it. They eventually conducted a traffic stop downtown, in the area of Avenue B and Brooklyn.
It was a scary moment for fiesta parade-goers, as they ran from their seats when witnessing a trooper point a gun at the driver of the Durango.
Sergeant Kenny Jay Mata with Texas Highway Patrol told KENS 5 that a Kasey Alert was issued out of Broken Arrow that reported a woman who went missing along with her three children, possibly abducted by her ex-husband. A Kasey Alert is similar to an AMBER Alert, when an adult is believed to have gone missing under suspicious circumstances.
Following an enjoyable morning at the Battle of Flowers Parade, Johnny Piña was enjoying a drink with his wife at the Idle Beer Hall & Brewery off Brooklyn near Avenue B. Shortly before 4 p.m. Friday, he said he noticed police lights out front.
"I came to the door and I saw and I was like what the heck? I saw the officer with the AK," Piña recalled.
Mata says troopers began following the Durango near Loop 410, east of Starcrest. It matched the vehicle listed in the Kasey Alert out of Broken Arrow.
"The Broken Arrow Police Department had been pinging the cell phone of the individual they placed the Kasey alert on and they tracked it all the way down to San Antonio, TX," said Mata.
When troopers stopped the vehicle, a man was behind the wheel.
"[The trooper] was telling [the driver] to back up, 'Let me see your waistband.' He didn't have no weapons. They asked him to get on the ground," Piña said.
The man was detained.
Inside the car, troopers found the missing woman and five children unharmed.
All are being questioned, as investigators figure out if the man is the ex-husband as well as the identities and relationships of all five children.
"They were giving them some water and some food."
Piña, along with other fiesta goers sitting along Brooklyn Avenue, tried to help the children who were taken inside the brewery.
Patrons offered the family a little cash, food and water until all were driven away by authorities.
Investigators are interviewing the man and woman and will determine if any charges will be filed.
Texas Rangers are handling the investigation.
This is a developing story.
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