SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio police arrested one of the city's most wanted robbery suspects Friday afternoon, bringing his violent crime spree to an abrupt end.
Sgt. Jaime Trevino, with SAPD's Robbery Task Force, said 20-year-old Elija Blue Flores has been on their radar for nearly year.
Witnesses and informants have implicated Flores in several robberies, including one this week where he hit the victim with a hammer on Feb. 14.
"This is one that has no regard for anyone else's safety and he's just very violent," Trevino said. "We believe Mr. Flores is involved in multiple violent cases we are investigating. We anticipate that additional charges are imminent against him so we hope to keep him off the streets for some time."
According to Trevino, investigators traced Flores to a relative's home in Converse where he was hiding. When he left the home in his car, police pulled him over and arrested him without incident.
On Tuesday, police said Flores used a hammer on a victim during an attempted theft in the 5400 block of Friesenhahn.
Trevino said his investigators have been tracking Flores for about a year, but due to his violent nature, it was difficult to get witnesses and informants to cooperate.
Now that he's in custody, they believe they'll soon be able to file charges on him in four more cases.
On top of that, Trevino said Flores was bragging about his crimes on a social media site.
"We have developed contacts that are helping us track him, and through a social network page, we were able to develop what we believe is going to be compelling evidence when we go to trial on these case," Trevino said.
Investigators believe they will be able file the additional charges against Flores before he can make bail on the one count of robbery he was charged with Friday.
Trevino said Flores also has three active warrants, including one for theft and one for assault.