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– Santa Maria resident Baltazar Alverez Mendoza, 26, was arrested Sunday after attempting to rob the Atascadero Shell Station with two kidnapped victims in tow, according to the City of Atascadero.
On Sunday at approximately 9:50 a.m., the Atascadero Police Department received a call of a man with a handgun that had just committed a robbery at the Shell gas station at 9155 San Gabriel Rd. A victim reported he had been carjacked in Santa Maria and held at gunpoint while he and his juvenile son were forced to drive northbound on US 101 from Santa Maria. The victim said they stopped at the Shell gas station where he and his son were able to escape during the Shell robbery. The suspect fled in the victim’s vehicle and was quickly located by a San Luis Obispo County Deputy Sheriff. The suspect fled from deputies to San Miguel, where he was involved in a traffic collision.
The suspect was taken into custody and later booked into San Luis Obispo County Jail. The suspect is still under arrest and additional charges are pending.