SAN ANTONIO – A woman who came face to face with a man accused in several carjackings in the San Antonio area is sharing her experience after police arrested the suspect.
Julio Caesar Rivera, 18, was arrested Nov. 2 after shooting a woman in the face while trying to steal her car, police said. He then confessed to three other carjackings, according to affidavits.
One of those carjackings was on Oct. 12 at a QT off Rigsby Ave and Lakefront. Lizette Villarreal and her husband said they were there to get some late-night snacks, and when they walked out, Rivera took their keys at gunpoint.
“He was like, ‘Give me the keys.’ And I turned around, and the only thing I was met with was the gun. And I looked at his face, and I looked back at the gun, and I was just terrified, like my life literally flashed before my eyes,” Villarreal said.
She said that although she’s relieved the suspect is off the streets for the time being, she still has panic attacks remembering the incident. She’s worried his friends might try and retaliate, and she doesn’t know what a judge and jury will decide in court.
“I didn’t drive by myself for, like, the past three weeks. I just am very traumatized. Now, I always think everyone’s out to get me. I run to my car after I get out of the store, like I just -- the only safe place I feel is at home, in my room locked up,” Villarreal said.
Villarreal identified Rivera to SAPD as the suspect in the crime. She said she had nothing to say to him, but she still questions how these crimes went on for so long.
“For him to have other people that he did that to -- it’s just like, how did he get away for so long with it. Like, in order for him to get caught, he had to hurt somebody really, really bad,” Villarreal said.
Rivera is being held in the Bexar County Jail.
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