(May 22, 2008)—Waco police were looking for two suspects Thursday after a man was tied, up, abducted, robbed and shot in the latest in a series of violent robberies that started with the abduction of a Baylor University coed over the weekend.
The latest victim was identified as Joe Lewis, 34, of Waco.
Police found Lewis with a gunshot wound to the groin just before 6 a.m. Thursday in the 3300 block of North 20th Street.
Lewis told officers a woman had invited him earlier Thursday morning to her apartment in the South Terrace Apartment complex.
He told officers that while he was there, two Hispanic men who were arguing with each other entered the apartment.
One suddenly pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Lewis, who was then tied up and forced into the back seat of his red 2007 Dodge Quad Cab.
Lewis told officers the men drove him to the intersection of North 20th Street and Edna Avenue, where they took him out of the truck and shot him.
The men then drove off in Lewis’ truck, with his maroon 2007 Suzuki motorcycle in the bed.
Lewis made his way to a nearby residence and asked the homeowner to call police.
He was taken to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center with what police said were non-life-threatening injuries.
Officers responding to a report of a suspicious vehicle found the stolen truck with the motorcycle still in the back just before 11:30 a.m. in an alley between the 2200 blocks of Alexander and Mitchell Avenues.
The two suspects remain at large.
Police are asking anyone with information to call either the Waco Police Department at (254) 750-7500 or Waco Crime Stoppers at (254) 753-HELP.
Police are still looking for suspects in other recent violent attacks.
Over the weekend, a Baylor coed was carjacked by gunpoint and was forced to drive to another part of town where she was robbed.
She was able to escape and went to a nearby residence for help.
Police found her vehicle abandoned several blocks away.
One of the men involved in that carjacking was Hispanic, about 20, 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-8, wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and a white tank top.
The other man was black, in his early 20s with a medium build and was wearing a light gray hooded sweatshirt and red shorts.
Early Wednesday morning, John Huerta, 24, was shot twice by two men who burst into the bedroom of his home in the 900 block of North 17th Street.
The men stole jewelry and Huerta’s wallet.
Huerta was able to drive himself to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center.
The men for whom police are looking in that incident are both black and between 16 and 20 years of age.
Both are between 5-foot-5 and 5-foot-9 and both had slender builds, police said.
One was wearing a white T-shirt and the other a black T-shirt, police said.
Then just before 4 a.m. Wednesday, Waco officers were dispatched to a report of a carjacking in the area of South 12th Street and Gurley Lane.
Juan Salas of Waco reported to police that as he was about to get out of his vehicle, two men approached on foot, brandished a small pistol and forced him out of the truck.
Salas threw the keys of his black 1996 Chevrolet truck and ran to hide behind a nearby church.
As Salas was calling the police, he saw the men take his truck and drive north on South 12th Street.
Police pursued the vehicle, but the men escaped on foot after the truck crashed into a tree at the Brazos Place Apartment Complex in the 600 block of South University Parks Drive.
The two suspects in that incident were Hispanic and between the age of 20 and 24.
The man with the weapon was wearing a red bandana across his face, a black T-Shirt and red shorts.
The other man was wearing a white T-Shirt and black pants.