Lest Seamus think Galveston has all the excitement...

[ELB]

Seguin, population about 27K has been having a one-man crime wave for the last month. Since 4 July at least eight people have been robbed by a Tex-Mex speaking (in a "dialect similar to the Spanish spoken in many border towns") Hispanic male, late 20s/early 30s, little or no facial hair, shaved head, approx 5'5", 160-170 lbs, covering his face in various ways, and holding a black semi-auto handgun. Pretty much all the robberies have occurred along West Kingsbury Street; this and the fact he apparently leaves the scene by foot leads police to believe he may live in the area. The police also think this guy may be targeting people he thinks are illegal immigrants. In at least one incident he wore a trench coat buttoned to the neck (remember that clue about people dressing inappropriately for the weather), but on another occasion he wore a polo shirt. Sometimes a dark jacket. However, the bandana across the face is probably a clue as well.

As far as I can tell from the articles, most incidents happened at night. A restaurant was robbed first thing in the morning (0730 I think) when they first opened up for Sunday business. People on the street, at or near a night club, and at an apartment complex have been robbed as well.

If you go to the KENS-5 link, play the video -- the text doesn't tell you much.
http://www.kens5.com/news/texas-news/At ... 27839.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://seguingazette.com/story.lasso?ew ... 3ba496638f" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://seguingazette.com/story.lasso?ew ... 488b232434" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I transit Kingsbury Street a lot, but not generally at night, and I don't stop often. It has a lot of small business like car repair, food marts, upholstery, radiator shops. At far west side of town it borders Texas Lutheran University.

There will be more to the story, I am sure.

[seamusTX]

Galveston is pretty tame aside from the prostitution and drug-dealing. I only post the stuff that happens here because I live here and know about it.

Wearing a facial mask or a trench coat in July is a reliable sign of skulduggery.

I spent many happy hours working at the Motorola plant in Seguin in the 1980s. I don't know if it is still there. I left Motorola twenty years ago.

- Jim

[Oldgringo]

Galveston is pretty tame aside from the prostitution and drug-dealing. I only post the stuff that happens here because I live here and know about it.

Wearing a facial mask or a trench coat in July is a reliable sign of skulduggery.

I spent many happy hours working at the Motorola plant in Seguin in the 1980s. I don't know if it is still there. I left Motorola twenty years ago.

- Jim

We used to have a Motorola TV.

[mctowalot]

But do they have a Seamus?

[lowonair]

My sister starts her freshman year at texas lutheran later this month. Hopefully someone shoots him first.

[ELB]

The plant is still here, but it is not Motorola any more, it is Continental. I think the complete name is Continental Automotive Group. They build electronic gizmos for cars mostly. It has lost some manufacturing and jobs to plants in Mexico and Asia, but related plants in other states have shut down entirely. The new job source in town is Caterpillar, which recently opened a just plant west of Seguin.

Seguin has a steady stream of small scale crimes -- burglaries, thefts from parked cars, etc. Occasional murder, often gang/drug related. Occasional self-defense shooting. The "serial robber" is something a bit new.

[Hoi Polloi]

Hopefully the guy's had heat stroke from being out in this heat with a trench coat and face mask. You'd think with the detailed description and small vicinity that it wouldn't be hard to put up fliers in all the stores along there and find him by tip. My guess would be that it would take one police officer one day of walking the neighborhood talking to store owners and clerks in order to get a solid lead.

[ELB]

Since I last posted, a new menace has entered the scene. Another guy knocked over a couple of convenience stores in the same general area with a shotgun, then drove off. He was also hispanic and covered his face, but was described as heavier, and he drove instead of walked and used a shotgun instead of a pistol.

The cops made an appeal to the public and put extra officers on patrol in unmarked cars and on bicycles. Someone called in with a tip, the cops got a warrant for a particular house, and came up with a shotgun and put an 18 year old under arrest for one of the convenience store robberies. They are also looking for a pal of his, a 17 year old; won't say they think he is the sidewalk robber, but won't say they think he isn't. So maybe this will get sorted out soon.

http://seguingazette.com/story.lasso?ew ... bf837f9cf4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In unrelated news, a couple in their early 60s was awakened early Sunday morning when some guy kicked in their front door. He appeared at their bedroom door, announced he had a gun, and no one would get hurt. The couple did not resist, until the intruder began an unspecified sexual assault on the wife. She hit him with a ceramic bowl and fled to the neighbors. The husband grabbed the intruder and held him until police arrived. The couple is reported to be unhurt (both of them). The intruder turned out to be a 17 year old, recently arrested for public intox, with a sealed juvenile record that the cops say had no "serious" crimes. The intruder confessed to the sexual assault, so he has himself a serious crime now.

[seamusTX]

I have never understood why every convenience and liquor store owner does not have a firearm on his hip. One store that I used to patronize had a steel pipe wrapped with electric tape behind the counter. That will come in real handy when somebody pulls a shotgun out of his trench coat.

- Jim

[5thGenTexan]

I have never understood why every convenience and liquor store owner does not have a firearm on his hip. One store that I used to patronize had a steel pipe wrapped with electric tape behind the counter. That will come in real handy when somebody pulls a shotgun out of his trench coat.

- Jim

Because they figure anyone dumb enough to work at night for what they pay is too dumb to trust with a firearm. When I worked at the Pharmacy night shift back in the 70's there were two pistols behind the counter, even though company policy did not allow them. 5 shot Smith at one end Mauser Hsc 380 at the other. Both belonged to the Pharmacist. That Hsc is in my safe the first handgun I ever owned. My ex bought from him after I quit and he opened his own pharmacy. When he retired untried to buy the Smith from him as well.

[seamusTX]

Because they figure anyone dumb enough to work at night for what they pay is too dumb to trust with a firearm.

That's true for the chains, but many of these stores are run by families and employ family members.

I chalk it up to being run by immigrants with no history of either firearms ownership or legal self-defense. Probably they don't know what is legal in this state.

- Jim

[ELB]

The street robber and the shotgun robber have made for exciting news. Just in the nick of time comes this report in our local paper:

"Crime numbers tumbling in Seguin"

The police chief provided some figures he is going to send to the FBI as part of their annual (published in September) Uniform Crime Report. According to the article, the figures say Part 1 crimes (murder, rape, robbery, theft and assault) have been going down for some time, especially the last two years. FBI says the closure rate (nationally) for Part 1 crimes is 31.25%. The police chief says the Seguin PD closure rate is 50.5%. I would bet the closure rate in bigger cities is much less. The chief probably has a point when he says his guys know who the bad guys and the good guys are -- it is a small enough town that the police force could literally know enough people in town to have an idea of what's going on.

[ELB]

...That's true for the chains, but many of these stores are run by families and employ family members. ...

- Jim

One of the stores robbed by the shotgun guy was "Salazar Grocery." I don't know it, but doesn't sound like a chain to me. Sounds mom & pop-ish to me.

[ELB]

Update: Might have somebody in jail for these.

http://seguingazette.com/story.lasso?ew ... 707e29ab35" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Somebody robbed a guy of his wallet and beer just before midnight, in the same general area as the rest of the robberies. Next morning just before 0600, a guy robbed a woman of her cell phone. She tried to follow him, but he got away --- on his bicycle. She drove to the police station, they flooded the area, and caught a guy matching the description -- who had her cell phone.

I believe there was another arrest awhile back related to these robberies, but don't know the status on that one.


On a completely different note, somebody shot a guy in Seguin as he was standing on his front porch. Most rounds hit the house, but one hit him in the chest and killed him. Few days later some guy was standing outside an auto repair shop when a car pulled up and several people got out and stabbed/beat him. He lived. As of yesterday the cops have arrested 13 people for "organized criminal activity" and other stuff related to the two incidents (ther first of which is believed to be retaliation for a previous (3rd) incident), including the brother of the dead guy. There is a murder warrant for at least one more.

The article mentions at least three gangs operating in Seguin. How nice.

[UpTheIrons]

On a completely different note, somebody shot a guy in Seguin as he was standing on his front porch. Most rounds hit the house, but one hit him in the chest and killed him. Few days later some guy was standing outside an auto repair shop when a car pulled up and several people got out and stabbed/beat him. He lived. As of yesterday the cops have arrested 13 people for "organized criminal activity" and other stuff related to the two incidents (ther first of which is believed to be retaliation for a previous (3rd) incident), including the brother of the dead guy. There is a murder warrant for at least one more.

The article mentions at least three gangs operating in Seguin. How nice.

Yes, they are here, and they are getting nasty. My wife teaches at the 6th Grade Center (they all go to one school here), and she's had stories about kids of gang members every year that she's been there. And they aren't puppy-and-rainbow stories either. Small town America is no longer immune to gang influence.

Luckily, most of the activity seems to be concentrated on the west end of town, but who knows how long that will last.