AUSTIN, Texas — Police are searching for a suspect after a man was allegedly tricked into getting into an SUV, taken to an unknown location and robbed at gunpoint.
The incident happened on Monday around 3 a.m. in Downtown Austin, according to an arrest affidavit.
Police said a man was drinking around East Sixth Street and Trinity Street when his friend was taken to the hospital due to her level of intoxication.
Shortly after, the man was approached by another man, Paul Anthony Rodriguez Junior, 21, who told him his girlfriend had also been taken to the hospital for being too drunk, the document said. He offered him a ride to the hospital and the two got into a black Chevrolet Tahoe occupied by two other men.
The victim began to feel uncomfortable and asked to be let out of the car, police said. The men locked the doors and refused to let him out.
They then demanded his phone in an intimidating tone, according to the affidavit. He handed over his phone and they asked for his password, which he refused to give. The men then reportedly demanded the victim’s wallet and Apple Watch.
The SUV pulled into an unknown neighborhood outside of the downtown area and the men forced the victim out of the car. Rodriguez made the victim get on his knees and put his head in the grass, the affidavit said.
Fearing for his life, the victim begged Rodriguez not to shoot him. Rodriguez had him get up off the ground before spraying his eyes with perfume to temporarily blind him. He then got back in the Tahoe and sped away, police said.
The victim went to a nearby house and had the resident call him an Uber.
Police said the vehicle and pattern of driving intoxicated victims from downtown to rob them matched previously reported crimes. The SUV has been identified as a 2009 black Tahoe with plate number KVM4877.
A warrant has been issued for Rodriguez’s arrest for robbery by assault, a second-degree felony.
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