A Fort Worth gas station clerk was kidnapped at gunpoint late Monday night, only to be rescued outside a motel thanks to quick police action and a location-sharing app.
Around 11:40 p.m., 25-year-old Freddie Banks Jr. entered Penney’s Food and Fuel at 4325 East Berry St., briefly returned to his vehicle, and then re-entered with a handgun, according to Fort Worth Police Department public information officer Buddy Calzada.
“He walked into the store, went right back to his vehicle, and immediately came out with a handgun,” Calzada said, per NBC 5 DFW. “Produced the handgun and forced the female into the vehicle.”
Police said Banks, who had no known connection to the clerk, drove off with her. Witnesses called 911, and a friend of the victim informed officers about a phone app that shared the clerk’s real-time location.
“They had an app that was able to share the location of where their friend was being taken,” Calzada said, per NBC 5.“And so we were literally seeing real-time where this individual was going, all the way up until the point where he stopped at the hotel.”
Officers tracked Banks to the Sunset Motel on Mansfield Highway, about three miles away, arriving as he and the victim were still in the parking lot outside a room he had rented.
“We were able to take him into custody and also locate the female who was actually at the passenger door of this vehicle,” Calzada said. “And we recovered that black handgun that was pointed at the victim.”
He added, “The relief that this victim had to feel as the officers rolled up and literally saved her life.”
Banks was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated kidnapping. He is being held in the Tarrant County Corrections Center with a combined bond amount of $100,000. Police are testing his DNA to determine if he is linked to other crimes.
Authorities emphasized the role of technology in the rescue, with Calzada noting, per NBC 5. “Things can be terrifying, but there’s things that the public can do to keep themselves safe.”
The investigation is ongoing.