Six teens arrested for violent weekend Dallas crime spree
There is a new account of the violent weekend crime spree that ended with the arrests of six juveniles.
A North Texas couple described being ambushed and beaten by three of the suspects. One of them loaded and pointed a shotgun at the victims.
Police say the same the six juveniles committed at total of four armed robberies in Oak Cliff in a two-hour period late Saturday and early Sunday. They were arrested in Mesquite after a brief chase.
Gerardo Mata-Rodriguez says he still has pain from where he was beaten early Sunday morning as he was trying to deliver pizza near Hampton and Ledbetter in Oak Cliff. He says he was swarmed so quickly by heavily armed criminals that he thought he was going to die.
“Yeah, this was an enormous shotgun,” he recalled. “Then I heard the other guys to ‘click, click, click.’ Why? I am 63 years old? Unarmed."
Mata-Rodriguez can't believe the criminals targeted him for $20 and two pizzas. He says they tried to take his car but couldn't drive a standard. Mata-Rodriguez had no idea the five boys and one girl arrested are all juveniles.
Police say the same suspects attacked Caroline and Garrett Scharton close to their home near the Bishop Arts District shortly before the criminals attacked Mata-Rodriguez.
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Surveillance video shows the attackers shouting and kicking Garrett as he shielded his wife. For all of this, he says, they only got away with a cell phone. The Schartons believe the teens should be punished as adults.
"It's so horrible,” Caroline said. “A violent, angry and senseless crime for an iPhone."
"I've got faith in the Dallas prosecutor’s office that they're going to do the right thing by us,” Garrett said.
The names of the juvenile suspects have not been released.