An 18-year-old Mission man is now in federal custody for allegedly brandishing and firing a pistol while he was stealing a vehicle from a grandmother and her 2-year-old grandchild in September.
Jose Luis Hernandez was charged with using a gun during a carjacking, according to a federal criminal complaint.
Deputies with the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office initially arrested Hernandez on charges of aggravated robbery, evading arrest or detention and failing to identify a fugitive on Sept. 7 after he led them on a chase following the alleged carjacking.
The federal complaint said a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, or ATF, opened an investigation into Hernandez on Oct. 27 after learning that deputies arrested him for aggravated robbery for stealing a vehicle while threatening its occupants, brandishing a firearm and shooting the gun.
According to a sheriff’s office investigation report cited in the federal complaint, Hernandez approached a vehicle near Mission and began hitting the passenger side window of the vehicle, which was occupied by the grandmother and her 2-year-old grandchild.
“When the driver engaged the vehicle, Hernandez brandished a firearm at the driver through the window and started wagging his finger from side to side saying ‘no,’” the complaint stated.
That document said he then began to hit the window with a pistol. The window broke and investigators were unable to determine whether it broke from him hitting it or from him firing the pistol, according to the complaint.
After Hernandez gained access to the vehicle, he told the driver to get out of it and to get her grandchild out as well.
“The driver stated they thought Hernandez was going to shoot them when they exited the vehicle,” the complaint stated. “The driver heard two shots fired by Hernandez in total during the carjacking event.”
Shortly after hearing the gunshots, sheriff’s deputies, Alton police and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers, who were already in the area, responded and a chase ensued.
That pursuit ended when Hernandez crashed into a tree and ran away on foot before authorities caught him.
Authorities found the pistol on the front passenger seat and determined the rear passenger door near where the 2-year-old had been sitting had been shot, according to the complaint.
Hernandez had been held at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center until Wednesday, when federal authorities executed a warrant for his arrest and took him into custody.
He made a first appearance Thursday in McAllen federal court in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Nadia S. Medrano, who ordered him temporarily held without bond pending a detention hearing.
