Man shot, killed while trying to get family's stolen car back from burglars in Del Valle

Man shot, killed while getting stolen car back

A man was shot, hit by a vehicle, and killed while trying to get his family's car back from burglars in Del Valle, police said.

DEL VALLE, Texas - A man was shot, hit by a vehicle, and killed while trying to get his family's car back from burglars in Del Valle, police said.

Police are looking for several people of interest.

The backstory:

Police said on May 3, around 3:21 a.m., Travis County deputies received a call from a family reporting their vehicle had been stolen from their driveway in the Sun Chase Neighborhood, in southeast Travis County.

At the exact same time, APD received a call that a person had been hit by a vehicle near the intersection of Ross Road and Thome Valley Drive, near Del Valle Elementary School.

An investigation revealed Anthony Salas, 20, was shot, hit with a vehicle, and killed as he tried to get his family's stolen vehicle back near the intersection.

Detectives have several persons of interest they want to speak with. They were seen on multiple cameras appearing to burglarize multiple cars throughout south and east Austin on May 2 and 3.

This case is being investigated as Austin’s 23rd homicide of the year.

Dig deeper:

"When you hit somebody, you're supposed to stop, render, and exchange information," Personal Injury Attorney Joe Caputo - Williams Caputo Injury Lawyers Joe Caputo said.

Police said the suspect in this case didn’t stay, and they may have been in a stolen vehicle.

"I guess an innocent possibility is they didn't realize it happened. I don't see that happen very often. The other most popular reason is that they're scared. They're scared because they did something wrong. They're scared because there are ramifications, or they have something in the car that they shouldn't, and they would rather take off than suffer the consequences and stay for police or EMS and fire to arrive," Caputo said.

Police said there were multiple witnesses. One witness, whose name is Carlos Roman-Madera, was arrested because he had an active warrant for fraud.

"The tough part in these cases is when someone does take off after a crash, there's just limited resources to try to identify who that person may be, and you have to get those resources right away," Caputo said.

What you can do:

Anyone with information should contact the Austin Police Department at 512-974-TIPS. 

You may submit your tip anonymously through the Capital Area Crime Stoppers Program by visiting austincrimestoppers.org or calling 512-472-8477. A reward of up to $1,000 may be available for any information that leads to an arrest.