Authorities said Wednesday that a man suspected of stealing a truck from a residential neighborhood in San Antonio, Texas, was shot and killed by one of the truck’s owners, who tracked the vehicle using an Apple AirTag.
San Antonio police spokesman Nick Soules told reporters in a briefing that the truck was stolen around 1 p.m. local time from outside a home on the north side of town.
Soliz said three family members who own the truck used an AirTag to track the vehicle to the parking lot of a mall in San Antonio’s South Side neighborhood.
“It looks like they tried to confront the suspect they saw in their car,” Soliz said.
It wasn’t clear to investigators exactly how the shooting happened, but Soliz said a family member tried to “contact the suspect in the truck.”
A family member told police that he believed “the suspect may have drawn a firearm,” prompting him to open fire. But Soliz said police did not know if the suspected truck thief had weapons.
“At the moment, only the victim of the stolen car is believed to have fired,” Soliz said. “The suspect was rammed into the stolen truck,” he added.
The suspect, a man in his 30s, was later declared dead. His name was not immediately revealed.
It is believed that the truck owners called the police to report the theft before the shooting, but then chose not to wait for the officers, according to Soliz.
“If your car is going to be stolen, I know it’s frustrating, but please don’t take matters into your own hands like this,” Soliz said.
The names of the person who shot the suspect and other family members were not immediately released. Soliz said it was unclear if the shooter would face any criminal charges.
