SAN ANTONIO - The owner of a taco truck just south of downtown cranked up his heat Friday and bravely defended the lives of his family.
The family's taco truck business is stationed at Southcross and Presa. While the business owner regularly packs heat, he never had to use it before.
"I carry my weapon all the time with me," said Arnold Sandoval.
It never crossed Arnold Sandova's mind that he would one day have to keep his gun inside his taco truck.
"Oh yes, I was scared I thought it was the end of us," said Olga Sandoval.
After 20 years in business the family had a close call. The bullet still marks the spot where suspect Matt Bernal allegedly fired one shot.
Sandoval said it all started when Bernal casually pulled up and asked to borrow his cell phone.
But when Sandoval ignored Bernal, the suspect reportedly pulled out his gun. Sandoval's family yelled at him to run inside the truck.
"He said, 'Give me the wallet.' And I said, 'I don't have the wallet,'" Olga Sandoval recalled.
She threw her daughter's purse at Bernal but he wanted more.
"So then he pointed the gun at me, and I ran. He shot right there," said Sandoval pointing to the bullet hole.
Sandoval hid behind the fridge. Bernal was going to shoot again. the taco truck owner said, but his trigger jammed.
"I saw his gun jam and I ran around. I had my truck right here like this," said Sandoval. He said he grabbed his own gun and fired at Bernal. "I could see on his eyes he was scared," Sandoval said.
While Sandoval's wife and daughter were shaken up, he said he was never afraid even though things could have turned out differently.
"He was lucky; I was lucky," said Sandoval.
Bernal wasn't that lucky. He is now at the Bexar County Jail.
Police said he admitted to holding up the business and others. Bernal was arrested in connection to a robbery last month. He robbed La Tienda Food Mart on Cupples Road. Police are still looking for the alleged accomplice.
