Updated
After almost eight hours of searching, three burglary suspects have been caught after a hunt that resulted from speeding in a school zone Wednesday afternoon.
College Station Police Chief Jeff Capps says the traffic stop was in front of Rock Prairie Elementary School at Dover and Welsh and involved two men and one woman.
Capps says the motorcycle officer who stopped the vehicle noted the driver and two passengers were acting suspicious about where they may be going and what they were up to.
After the motorcycle officer found what appeared to be stolen property, one of the men ran away.
A perimeter search was set up hoping to catch the man, and four schools were locked down, but officers were unsuccessful until several hours later when the man was found in a tree in the area bordered by Regal Row, Nottingham and Rock Prairie.
The man fled again by jumping onto a roof, then down into a backyard, but with the assistance of the Bryan K-9 team, he was caught around 11:30 near the intersection of Nottingham and Abbey Lane.
He then was taken to College Station Medical center with non-incapacitating injuries.
Police say the man who ran was identified as Johan Sanchez Cruz, alias Orejuela Edwardo Neiva, 25, of Houston, and he is also wanted for burglary in Houston.
Richard Andres Castillo Rivas, 27, of Columbia, South America, and Gloria Cardozo, 22, also of Columbia, were also arrested, and the stolen property, which included about $47,000 worth of jewelry, was returned to the victims.
Original story:
Speeding in a school zone Wednesday afternoon led to the arrests of two suspected home burglars. A third suspect remains at large.
College Station Police Chief Jeff Capps says the traffic stop was in front of Rock Prairie Elementary School at Dover and Welsh.
Capps says the motorcycle officer who stopped the vehicle noted the driver and two passengers were acting suspicious about where they may be going and what they were up to, and the officer found what appeared to be stolen property.
It was at that time that one of two men ran away. He was last seen going south towards the Westchester Park subdivision.
Capps says a perimeter was set up hoping to catch the man. By 8 p.m., or 4 1/2 hours after the traffic stop, officers decided the suspect had left the area and the perimeter was removed.
During the search, the College Station school district was notified. That led CSISD officials to issue a shelter in place order. That resulted in the 8th grade football team from College Station Middle School going indoors. Also notified were the Kids Klub after school programs at Rock Prairie and Creekview Elementary and Cypress Grove Intermediate schools.
CSPD officers, assisted by the Bryan police department K-9 unit, were involved in the search of neighborhood backyards.
The suspect is described as a black male, 5 feet 8 inches tall and approximately 180 pounds. He was last seen wearing a white tank-top undershirt and dark jeans.
The female driver and other male passenger was detained and transported for questioning related to multiple burglaries that occurred earlier in the day in south College Station.
Click below for comments from Jeff Capps, visiting with WTAW’s Bill Oliver Wednesday at 8 p.m.