HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – A man believed to be responsible for a robbery at a north Harris County tire shop was arrested, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez announced on Thursday.
Andrew Isaiah Garza, 20, was charged with two counts of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. He appeared in court at 10 p.m. Thursday and his bond was set at $60,000 for both counts, court documents said.
Garza is accused of pistol-whipping one of the tire shop employees and throwing a woman, who also worked at the shop, to the ground during the robbery. The suspect was already out on bond when the incident occurred, authorities said.
According to court documents, surveillance video caught Garza arriving in a white Ford pickup truck at the tire shop located on East Hampton Drive near Eastex Freeway shortly before 2:30 p.m.
He entered the shop and waited for a customer to leave. Once the customer had left, Garza started to ask the employees about possibly putting new tires in his vehicle.
Then, Garza asked where the bathroom was. That was when court documents revealed he pulled out a “semi-automatic gun” from his waistband and pistol-whipped the male employee.
The woman tried to escape from Garza, but he threw her toward a display rack with wheels and then pushed her to the floor, according to documents.
Garza then allegedly began to demand money and valuables, stealing the woman’s wallet and the man’s cellphone and $1,000 in cash from the store’s front desk area.
Garza then ordered both employees to walk downstairs and into a bathroom. That is when a customer entered the shop and the woman told him to run.
Garza chased the customer out of the shop before running towards a white Ford pickup truck and speeding off. According to documents, two unknown males were waiting inside the truck at the time of the robbery.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, Garza has a criminal history dating back to 2017, with offenses including violation of protective order, deadly conduct, and multiple aggravated assault charges within several law enforcement agencies.
Sheriff Gonzalez said Garza is also charged in connection with a different tire shop robbery, but the details of that robbery were not revealed. He is expected to face additional charges.