MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office is looking for a would-be thief who tried to steal a car at a Cordova gas station while the driver returned a Redbox movie.
Investigators say the driver was returning the movie to a Redbox outside the Circle K on Whitten Road around 10 p.m. Friday when a thief jumped in his car and tried to drive off.
“It’s usually right there in front of your car. I could see getting out and leaving it running,” Anthony Minatre said.
But that driver wasn’t about to let that happen. Deputies say he jumped back into his car and somehow scared off the suspect, who ran off.
“Not worth it,” Minatre said. “I’d just let ’em take my car and go on… Evidently they want the car more than I do, so they can have it. I got insurance.”
He’s one of several drivers WREG spoke to who said they wouldn’t take that risk.
“You might get shot, especially around here,” he said.
And that very well could have been how things ended. Investigators say someone fired a shot during the tussle, and it wasn’t the victim.
They don’t know if it was the suspect or possibly a third person, but thankfully, the driver who made the split-second decision to fight for his car left with that and his life.
Another driver told WREG off camera that she would have made the same call, because she paid too much money for her car.
Deputies are still searching for the attempted thief. The only description investigators have released is that the suspect is a man.
Management at the Circle K declined to comment Saturday morning, citing company policy.
