armed robbery at a los lunas del taco. police say the robber, who used a human-shield to escape, is still on the loose. eddie garcia spent the day in los lunas and is here with the story. eddie. joe these photos given to us by the los lunas police department tell the story of the terrifying hostage situation del taco employees faced as a gunman robbed the place dry. police say from the looks of things he had been casing the business - and knew exactly what he was doing. shattered glass in this crime scene photo indicates a violent break-in by the suspect 11:30 saturday night through the drive through window of this del taco in los lunas. multiple surveillance cameras were recording as the man held more than 5 employees at gunpoint - ordering them to empty out the cash register and safe. in the commotion, one employee was able to call police minute thumbnail 10:01 pm using her headset. officers arrived within minutes and began surrounding the restaurant -- when the suspect saw this, he panicked. he took a hostage which was an employee of del taco. with that hostage at gunpoint he exited the building with one of the employees car keys and gained entrance to the car. he used the hostage as a human sheild to fend-off police and forced her to get in this red cadillac with him. police fired shots puncturing two tires but he drove off anyway. just a few blocks down the road, near the high school, police think he tried something daring to escape. i believe he exited he vehicle when it was still in drive, he told the actual occupant, the hostage to keep her head down and not to look up for 30 seconds." in those seconds police say he jumped out. the car crashed into this ditch with the female employee still in it - she was uninjured. police say he took off on foot toward the high school he dropped some money as he fled on foot. by this time, several law minute thumbnail 10:02 pm enforcement agencies set up a one square mile search perimeter, but it was too late-- he was gone. los lunas police tell me they kept that one-square mile perimeter on lockdown for more than six hours as they fanned out their search. police say based on the evidence, it seems like the suspect knew exactly what time to hit in order to take off with the most money.
