VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – Two men were arrested in connection with DeLand carjacking attempt at a Walmart, according to the police department.
The DeLand Police Department said Tuesday that officers arrested Isaiah Thomas, 21, and John Torres, 22.
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The department said two men approached the victim, who was sitting in his car watching videos on his phone around 11:50 p.m. Saturday in the parking lot of the Walmart on North Woodland Boulevard.
The carjackers opened the car’s doors, demanded the man to get out of the vehicle and asked for the keys. The victim ran to the Walmart for help, with the keys in his pocket, and the carjackers ran away, according to the report.
The second carjacking attempt happened nearly an hour later in the parking lot of the Florida Technological College, resulting in a victim being taken to a hospital with critical injuries, investigators said.
The department said the men were charged with the carjacking attempt at Walmart and are believed to be the suspects in the second carjacking attempt. The men have not been charged in the Florida Technological College carjacking attempt.
Police also released the 911 call made by one of the victims in the second carjacking attempt, in which she tells the operator she and her partner “have just been shot at.”
[NOTE: There are large portions of silence throughout the 911 call.]
“Keep pressure on the bleeding,” the 911 operator tells the caller, who is tending to her partner who suffered a gunshot wound as a result of the incident. “Just keep watching his breathing, okay?”
News 6 is told the shooting victim is still in the hospital.
“We still have other suspects that could possibly be arrested in this case,” said Captain Prurince Dice with DeLand Police Department. “Some of the vehicles that were used were seen at both locations.”
News 6 also found court records showing the pair was arrested in Daytona Beach over the weekend just a couple of hours after the carjackings were reported.
“I believe it was at some apartment complex and I won’t assume because I don’t want to speculate as to what they were doing but the charges were loitering and prowling,” said Prurince.
The two bonded out early Sunday morning before they were arrested by DeLand police again Monday. Police said a third person was arrested with Thomas and Torres in Daytona Beach. Investigators are now working to see if they are also connected to the attacks in DeLand.
Thomas and Torres face charges of carjacking and burglary with assault or battery.