Deputies Search for Armed Burglars… in my backyard!

As I was sitting in my home office around 1:30 this morning, a car screamed past my window seconds before I heard it slam into my neighbors’ cars. When I saw the police cars fly past at about the same time, I knew this was no ordinary late night car crash.

Here’s the story from KVUE (first on the scene), FOX 7 (08:00, 12:00), KEYE, and the Statesman. As a matter of fact, if you watch the 08:00 FOX report, you can see my car in the driveway over the reporter’s left shoulder (look just behind her left ear). Update, 16:00: For the purpose of completeness, here’s the KXAN (v.2 found at 21:00) video. You’d think News8Austin would have video, but they apparently do not.

And here’s an archive of the Twitter posts that I made as this was all going down.

• 01:35:41: Son of a bitch. Police pursuit just ended 6 houses down. This was a quiet ‘hood until the last few days? Same group from Sunday night? Hmmm.
• 01:36:24: From djwhitebread: @Grumpicus Damn, grump, crazy stuff going down in the rock, huh?
• 01:39:48: Correction. Car pursuit ended. They bailed. Status of foot pursuit unknown. The family’s away so I’m armed - and pissed (but not irrational)
• 01:41:33: @djwhitebread Something like that. (Some) cars are tearing off now, so either they’ve got a lead or they just like hearing their engines rev
• 01:47:36: Helicopter now. No spotlight but I guess the pursuit is still hot. I expect ‘em to be running versus hiding but door locks are dbl-checked.
• 01:49:45: Chopper circling overhead. Either my hunch is wrong or they need some lessons in hide-and-seek. Still no spotlight.
• 01:51:23: From Mystic Violet: @Grumpicus It’s probably time to pull out the sniper rifle and get on your roof.
• 01:58:16: @MysticViolet Does a deer rifle count? I’m on the second floor… Keep checking the back yard. Pissed. Don’t bring that shit up in my house.
• 02:01:57: Feel free to substitute (neighbor)hood for house in that last post. Wish there was a way to turn on all the neighbors’ outdoor lights remote
• 02:03:13: Uniform just walked by with a flashlight. Blew me off when I asked for a status update. I can respect that, but it can’t be a good sign.
• 02:10:06: From *Legion*: @Grumpicus Down there, in the bushes!
• 02:13:13: Three more cars; pedal to the metal. Chopper moving away as well. Probably not over, but probably not as immediately local anymore, either.
• 02:26:37: Got a status b4 they sent me back inside: Car was stolen. Lost control, hit neighbor’s car in driveway. Bailed. Still looking for 2 on foot.
• 02:31:09: From *Legion*: I guess Grumpy’s not going to shoot anyone, so I’m going to sleep.
• 02:40:00: @legion I’d rather not. As long as I don’t hear any windows breaking, I don’t suspect I’ll have to. Good night.
• 02:41:13: @legion And if I do, don’t expect me to be twittering about it anyway.
• 02:50:44: Looking back, I neglected to mention that not long after the sound of the car crash was a single “firecracker” sound. Confirmed by neighbors
• 03:00:34: From Mystic Violet: @Grumpicus. See, now you got me on Grump Watch. You better tweet before you leave or I’ll be concerned!
• 03:11:37: Two hours since we started. Chopper back circling locally. Cop cars patrolling. Are they still hiding? Who’s more patient? Sunrise: 6:29 AM.
• 03:18:04: @MysticViolet I usually sign off anyway but I’ll be doubly sure to do it tonight. Still, I’m a night owl so don’t wait up. Thanks.
• 03:18:41: Tow truck just drove by with (what I presume was) the stolen vehicle on the back: recent Honda Accord from the brief glimpse I got.
• 03:30:20: It got quiet (chopper out of gas?). I made it to the end of the drive before they hollered at me (from half a block away) to go back in.
• 03:31:51: Before I turned, I asked if we were done yet. “No we are not.” I’m probably good for another 30 minutes though, as I said, it’s quiet out.
• 03:35:24: Talked to neighbor on phone after I saw him outside his house. We’re not all that worried about a home invasion but better safe than sorry.
• 03:57:18: Off to bed. Called the non-911 number for an update. Helicopter refueling. The search is still on. Doors and windows are secure. Good night.
• 04:27:01: News truck ( http://www.kvue.com/ ) just pulled up as I was shutting down. (I had to email boss that I may be a bit late.) G’night for real.
• 04:33:30: Thought while lying in bed: What if they phoned 4 a ride? Everyone has a cell in their pocket, right? If cops R looking 4 “on foot”… Gone.
• 05:21:00: Back up. Still awake. Saw the KVUE report from the street corner 3/4 houses down. Finally got to see the car they hit. Broken axle. Ongoing.
• 05:22:54: As I was typing the last tweet, the tow truck brought the (stolen) car back. Couldn’t see but sounded like they got something out of it? Odd
• 05:24:13: Back to trying to grab a couple winks. Just can’t get my eyes to stay shut. Headache to boot. BBIAB
• 08:15:46: From JD Hancock: Reading about armed men in my neighborhood trying to break into homes early this morning. Nice. http://hellotxt.com/l/lNrm
• 09:40:22: KVUE: http://snipr.com/2bc95 FOX7: http://snipr.com/2bcdg KEYE: http://snipr.com/2bcf7 KXAN: Asleep at the news desk?
• 09:43:08: Heh. Just watched the FOX7 video. That’s my car in the driveway over her shoulder. (The on half-obscured by her head.)
• 09:51:47: @JDHancock I knew you lived up north here, but are you actually in Cat Hollow? Hello, neighbor.
• 10:37:09: KXAN finally showed up as I walked down to get the mail (mostly an excuse to check out the point of impact). Official distance: 5 houses.
• 10:41:49: Were those firecrackers in the distance? Backfire? Am I just hearing things? I wonder how many “heroes” are feeling trigger-happy this morn.
• 12:39:33: KXAN finally got their report broadcast. Sounds like the guys might have stolen another car and got’n away. Will post link when it’s online.
• 13:15:30: Lunch eaten. Energy increasing. No more thinking about auto thieves. Time to focus (even more than I have been already) on the task at hand.

Update, 13:25: It looks like some of the stories have been updated since this morning. They’re now almost all reporting that the search was called off a little after 7 and the bad guys have officially gotten away - probably in another car they stole from the neighborhood.

As for me, I’m pretty much done “reporting” (commenting) on this incident as well. If anything significant comes up, I’ll update but I figure it’s just another statistic on the police blotter at this point.

Update, 21:00: As the story develops, this later version from KXAN seems to be the most complete so far.

Update, 05/31: It looks like they caught ‘em.