After robbing the security guard, police say those suspects used his vehicle to rob a gun store. Now they're on the run.
Detectives spent the morning on the scene collecting evidence after the suspects drove a vehicle right into the building as part of an elaborate crime spree.
Hours after the door to a shop on Sawdust near I-45 was shattered, shards of glass were still falling to the floor.
"Whoever did this wanted in here and they were going to get way or another, even if they had to cut holes in the walls," said store owner Ron Oestmann.
You can see it all unfold on surveillance tape. The truck backs up, briefly struggles to hop the curb and then smashes into the store. Once inside, two men run out and go straight for the counter. They're gone within seconds and the owner says they took a few handguns with them.
But the whole thing started about 150 feet away from the store in a wooded area. Deputies say a security guard who was patrolling the area came across a man lying on the ground who looked sick.
As the guard was calling 911, another man allegedly ran up and pointed an assault rifle at him. Then the man who was supposedly sick jumped up and also pointed a gun at the guard. Deputies say the two men stole the guard's car and rammed it into the business.
Oestmann said, "I believe the people who perpetrated the crime were probably in here and they probably scoped us out."
He expects it'll cost more than $10,000 to repair the front window. But perhaps even more difficult to repair is a sense of trust in this shopping center.
Nearby business owner Dr. Mark Marquardt said, "My wife and my daughter, they're afraid to walk through the parking lots here at night and it wasn't that way when we started out."
"You've got criminals so daring to commit two violent crimes in a row," Oestmann said.
The suspects' faces and identifying features are not clearly visible on the surveillance video. If you have any information, you're asked to contact authorities.
