South Austin pawn shop shootout puts bullet holes in family's car
AUSTIN, Texas - Shattered. Not just a window, but emotionally.
"It was probably the worst day, the worst Sunday ever,” said Carla Lira.
It was a bad day for Lira because she is still trying to understand how bullet holes got into her sedan.
"We felt like a big impact, my husband got out and I got out to see what was going on,” said Lira.
On Sunday night Lira was traveling down South Congress Avenue with her husband and son when bullets struck their car.
"At first I thought it was like a tire that had popped or something because it was a loud noise and the car kind of moved sideways,” said Lira.
It happened just before Stassney Lane as they drove past Mustang Pawn and Jewelry.
RELATED: APD investigating pawnshop robbery in South Austin
"We were actually heading to my mom's house for a get-together,” said Lira.
They almost never made it and that is something she can’t shake off.
"I still feel nervous, scared, even when I’m driving, I fear, like something is going to happen to me,” said Lira.
The bullet that made one big hole slammed into the passenger door where Lira was sitting, the slug stopped by the car frame next to her seat. Another smashed into the back window, inches from her head.
That isn't what scares her, though. The bullet passed in front of her three-year-old son in a car seat, "maybe about an inch away from his face," and shattered the window next to him. It went out into the roadway where other cars were passing by.
"I just thank God every day, I’m glad he is ok because I don’t know what I had done if he was gone,” said Lira.
The gunfight was the result of a smash-and-grab robbery inside the pawn shop. The five heavily armed men seen in this video were chased by the store owner, who had a shotgun according to a witness.
RELATED: Armed store owner turns tables on armed robbers at South Austin pawn shop
Carla doesn't know who fired the shots that hit her car. She hopes to get a better idea regarding that when she meets with detectives again, but she does have an opinion about the gunfight itself.
"He should have waited until APD came on the scene,” said Lira.
The robbers escaped but left behind the items they stole. Lira is hopeful an arrest will be made soon.
"I still feel scared because they are obviously out there and it just makes me nervous and is very traumatizing,” said Lira.
For now, she is thankful. Insurance will repair her car, and there is also something more important; her family survived that night.
A spokesperson for APD did say that detectives do not believe the men who robbed the pawn shop were involved in a similar smash and grab. In October two men robbed a north Austin jewelry store. They left in a different vehicle and the guns used do not appear to match those used at the Pawn Shop.