MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Three people are in custody after police say they stole not one, but two vehicles and forced three schools into lock down.
The robbery spree caused a scare in the Parkway Village area.
Thursday morning Sheffield High School was swarmed with more than nine MPD squad cars after a wild morning.
Two vehicle chases later officers were at Sheffield High School dusting for fingerprints on a Ford pickup.
Hours later, its owner Jim Holmes was still in shock.
“They were in the vehicle at that time and it was leaving and I got speechless. I couldn’t tell the guy, ‘hey my truck is being stolen,'” said Holmes.
Holmes said he watched as three thieves drove off in it while he was inside a paint store on Lamar.
“I was speechless to start with and then I said, ‘who would want to do that to me?’ But it happens.”
Holmes admitted he left the pick up running because he only expected to be gone for a few minutes.
“Who would’ve thought in two to three minutes the truck would be stolen?”
According to police, this was the burglars’ second heist.
Officers said they first started the chase on Winchester after they noticed another vehicle with stolen plates.
That chase ended in a crash at Lamar and Getwell.
That’s when the thieves started running and spotted Holmes’ easy target on Lamar.
Police then started another chase which ended at Sheffield High School.
“They reacted fast,” said Holmes.
Sheffield High, Sheffield Middle and Shrine School were put on lockdown while officers investigated.
Holmes said he’s happy to have his truck back and said he learned his lesson to never leave it running unattended again.
“When you don’t take care of what you got you know and do the things you should do that’s what happens,” said Holmes.
