Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
An Uber Eats worker and a would-be robber drew guns on each other after a food delivery to a customer over the weekend, court documents say.
The delivery worker went to Arbor Terrace apartments, which is just off Interstate 35 near East Oltorf Street in Southeast Austin, around 2:25 a.m. on Saturday, an arrest affidavit says.
When the delivery was done, the worker turned around to find a man aggressively standing very close to him. That man was identified by police as 37-year-old Gabriel Menchaca Palomino.
The delivery man told Palomino to get away from him, the affidavit says.
"Palomino asked (the man) 'Do you know what time it is,' as if he was trying to distract (the man), while grabbing the bandana that was around his neck, and pulling it up over his mouth and nose," the affidavit says.
Palomino then pointed a black, semi-automatic Glock handgun at the man, the court documents say.
The delivery man pulled out a Sig Sauer P238 handgun and pointed it at Palomino.
"For a brief second both Palomino and (the man) just stood there, not moving, when Palomino moved off toward the end of the parking lot," the affidavit says.
The delivery man hid between vehicles in the parking lot before he could get to his car and call 911. The emergency operator told him to go to the nearest gas station.
The man went to a 7-Eleven nearby where he waited for an officer. When an officer arrived, the man got out of his vehicle and noticed Palomino walking down the sidewalk.
"That's the guy who just tried to rob me," the man told police.
During an interview with police, Palomino said he had tried to help the delivery man from being robbed by another person.
Palomino has been charged with aggravated robbery. He was booked into the Travis County Correctional Complex on Saturday at 6:16 a.m. with bail set at $40,000, according to online county records.