'Get The F*** Out Of Car Or I Will Shoot': Demands Carjacker During Police Chase
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A woman carjacked during police chase said she's grateful to be alive after the man put a gun to her face and told her to get the F*** out of the car.
It started at a Marathon gas station in Hialeah on the corner of 169th Street and 67th Avenue
A man who works around the gas station said he watched as the suspect carjacked a customer.
"He came and was yelling. They just took my car at gunpoint. They held me up at gun point....he took off and two police officers showed up -- he stopped and the chase began," said witness Alfredo Gomez.
He says the suspect didn't have the keys. The victim kept saying he won't get too far and the suspect didn't.
The man being chased by police was wanted on a bank robbery warrant. He armed himself with a gun and fled when the FBI showed up to take him into custody. He carjacked the brown SUV and led police on a chase from the northern part of the county into Miami.
Midway through the chase, he switched vehicles.
Minerva Castellano said she was on her way to work at the Veterans Administration Hospital when a guy ran up to her near NW 21st Street and 14th Avenue in Miami, put a gun to her face and told her to get out.
"He said 'Get the f*** out of the car right now or I will shoot you'. I'm thinking, I wasn't really scared at the moment because I'm thinking it's an undercover cop because I saw cops all over the place. I thought he was an undercover cop that needed my car. It took me a while to get out, I had to unstrap the seatbelt, luckily I had my purse with me and I ran out," she said.
Castellano was then in for a surprise.
"A police officer comes to tell me 'do you know what he looks like' and I said what are you talking about, he said that's the guy we are looking for," she said. "I broke down at that point."
One of her friends, and a co-worker, went to the scene of the carjacking to make sure she was okay.
"I was afraid for her, I was extremely afraid of what happened. My first instinct was to call our VA and have the police come over to make sure she was fine," she said. "I'm just so thankful she's okay. A car is replaceable but your life is not."
After stealing Castellano's black Mazda, the man led police to a boat yard North River Drive and NW 27th Avenue. He bailed out of the vehicle and jumped into the water.
Police negotiators tried to get him to surrender. When they moved in take him into custody, police say he refused to drop a weapon and was shot and killed by two Miami officers.
The FBI say that Padron was wearing an ankle monitor when he reportedly tried to rob a bank last month.