Wrecker catches alleged gunman on tape before he terrorizes neighborhood

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Two men accused of pulling a gun on a wrecker driver are on the run in southwest Houston.

Police say the men also fired shots near Whidby Elementary School, prompting a lockdown at the school as they threatened neighbors in the area.

The wrecker driver told abc13 it all started when he saw a car pulled over on State Highway 288 and Yellowstone Boulevard, and stopped to offer assistance.

The wrecker says the driver of the vehicle told him he was broken down and needed a tow. Yet when the wrecker snapped photos of the car's license plates, which he says is normal practice, the driver of the car pulled out a gun and pointed it at the wrecker.

Cell phone video shows the accused driver as he confronts the wrecker after he figured out the license plates did not match the car's registration.

"So now you're threatening my life?" the wrecker drivers asks on the video, as the alleged gunman stares at the man with intensity.

"He said if a cop shows up, I am going to take your life, I am going to take your family's life," the wrecker tells abc13.

The gunman then fled the scene with another man on foot.

Both men were wearing camouflage. A SWAT officer tells abc13 the suspects appear to have returned to their vehicle a short time later and took off.

People in the neighborhood across from Whidby Elementary say they heard as many as six to 10 gunshots.

One woman says a man pointed a gun at her son, but she stood in front of the boy in his defense.

"He said, 'I'll blow your brains out,'" she says, "and I said, 'That's what you're gonna have to do today.'"

The woman says she doesn't recognize the man as being from the area. "He wasn't a familiar face," she says. "He's never been here before."

Those men have still not been found. Police tells abc13 that the men were also believed to be involved in a shooting at a house on Dunlap.

This is an active and developing situation in southwest Houston.

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