Austin shooting spree: Manor man holds suspect at gunpoint during manhunt

MANOR, Texas - During the massive manhunt for the Austin shooting spree suspects, a Manor man says he found two of the suspects hiding in his barn.

What they're saying:

"They just looked at me like, what do we do, and it was just fight or flight," says Justin Newlin, as he recalled the moments he came face-to-face with the suspects. "I came home, was trying to enjoy a nap when I heard sirens and all that, my dog barking, SWAT up and down the road."

Newlin’s house is located near FM 973 and Highway 290 in Manor. On Sunday, his neighborhood was thrust into a shelter in place as law enforcement searched for three teenagers wanted in connection to 12 shooting across Austin.

"I noticed my barn doors were open, which I did leave open. I decided at that time to go ahead and clear them to make sure nobody was in there."

When Newlin checked the front of his barn, he found the area empty, but when he tried to open the side door, it wouldn’t budge.

"I had to literally shove my way in, and when I did, there's two suspects sitting right there on each side of the door." Newlin told FOX 7 it was obvious that the teenagers had been running for a while, due to how much they were sweating. He told the suspects to stay calm and attempted to close the door.

"I'm trying to flag the sheriff to come up to my house, at the same time I'm going to my truck to get my gun.  As I’m entering my truck to get my gun, I hear them running out behind me."

Newlin says he wasted no time chasing after one of the teenagers, telling them he would shoot if they kept on running.

"I eventually cornered him at the fence line and held him at gunpoint until state troopers and SWAT were able to capture him," said Newlin. "The guy did not resist one bit because I let it know from the get-go that if you move, I will shoot."

When asked what motivated him to chase after the suspects, he said one of the only things on his mind was his neighbors. 

"There's a bunch of elderly people that live around me and I kind of took it into my hand to be the protector around here. So that's what I do. This is nothing out of the ordinary for me to spring into action like this."

Dig deeper:

After a multiple hour manhunt, three suspects were arrested, which included two teenagers, a 15 and 16-year-old. 

APD released the identity of the third suspect, 17-year-old Cristian Mondragon.

The gun they used in the shooting spree was stolen from an Austin gun store, Central Texas Gun Works. 

"They've come into the gun store apparently four other times to try to steal guns from us, four separate times," said Michael Cargill, the owner of Central Texas Gun Works. According to him, two of the teenage suspects had repeatedly tried to steal from his store in the past. 

In January, Mondragon ran out of Central Texas Gun Works with a gun he had stolen from the store. Cargill says he cornered Mondragon on a Cap Metro bus and held him there until he was apprehended by APD. 

"Unbeknownst to me, he was released from that system into the custody of his parents or custodian," says Cargill, who claims Mondragon was then a part of the group who stole from his store on Saturday. 

Around 11:30 AM, a teenager who Cargill was unfamiliar with, came into Central Texas Gun Works and ran out with a gun before jumping into a getaway car. 

When asked how the teenagers were able to get their hands on the gun inside the store, Cargill says he unaware they were underage.

"We didn't know they were teenagers, even when the Austin Police Department showed up and we showed the video to them, they thought they were 20 years of age."

FOX 7’s Marco Bitonel then asked, "So, if we were to walk in there to say, "Can I look at this gun?’ I wouldn't have to show an ID?"

"Not initially," responded Cargill. "Once they're purchasing the firearm, then we grab their ID."

The gun stolen from Central Texas Gun Works was then used in 12 shootings across Austin from Saturday afternoon into Sunday. 

In total:

• Four people were injured. Three victims had non-life-threatening injuries, and one victim had critical injuries and was taken to the trauma center.
• Five cars were hit by gunfire
• Four homes were hit by gunfire
• Two Austin Fire Departments were hit by gunfire
• Three Austin Fire Department trucks were hit by gunfire
• At least five cars were stolen

But Cargill feels like the theft could have been prevented if the Travis County justice system would have had a harsher approach to Mondragon, who stole a gun from the store back in January.

Cargill claims that he had given information to the DA’s office related to the multiple attempts by two of the teenagers to steal guns.

"We need our county attorney, our district attorney to prosecute these individuals because once I call 911 to tell you someone has done something and I give you the information on the silver platter, they should be prosecuted," said Cargill. "That never should have happened. That individual never should've gotten with someone else and was able to graduate up to something else."

When asked about increasing security at the store, Cargill says a new system would be put into place on Tuesday but wouldn’t share what that would look like.