Attempted stolen vehicles. A collision with a pedestrian. Two home invasions at the same house. A female victim retaliating by hitting the suspect with a wooden stick, cutting his head. All of this allegedly happened as a part of the same incident over the distance of just a few blocks.
On July 30, 2024, at about 9:20 p.m., officers responded to a “disturbance” on South College Avenue. The call initially came in as a burglary but it was much more than that. At first, 911 callers thought a person had been shot. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. But that was about the only thing that didn’t happen during this incident.
A report from the Douglas Police Department states that when officers arrived at the scene, they found a female victim screaming in “substantial” pain. An officer asked her if she had been shot; she said no she hadn’t. Officers learned that a male, later identified as Antonio Castro, 43, of Douglas, had attempted to steal a vehicle on South College Avenue. During the attempt, a group of men confronted him and “subdued him until he was face-down on the ground and was no longer believed to be a threat,” the report says.
As the saying goes, you can’t keep a good man down – or, apparently, an alleged would-be car thief. After the men turned their attention away from Castro, he jumped up and got in a 2013 Ford Escape. He backed into the daughter of the Escape’s owner, knocking her down and running over her leg, the report says. Then he drove north on College Avenue.
While officers were at the scene, they received a call from a West Bryan Street apartment, where the caller said a male, believed to be Castro, had run into her home. The second victim stated that Castro had entered her home and grabbed a remote control from another occupant’s hands. Castro then ran outside again and jumped into 2013 Ford Fusion in which the second victim’s daughter was sitting. The report says Castro pulled the daughter from the car and jumped in.
The second victim went outside and saw Castro in the car. She had a wooden stick and started hitting him. Castro jumped out of the car and ran back inside the home, the report states. When he entered the apartment, he allegedly pushed a two-year-old child to the ground. The second victim believed that Castro was looking for car keys. She continued hitting him until he ran outside of the apartment heading north.
Officers continued looking for Castro. A short time later, 911 received a call that he was back near the West Bryan apartment. Officers returned and found him hiding in the bushes near the apartment. The report states that he appeared intoxicated and he had cuts on his head.
Castro was arrested and hit with a number of serious charges: aggravated assault, hijacking a motor vehicle (first degree), kidnapping, robbery, aggravated battery simple battery, two counts of burglary (first degree), entering an automobile with intent to commit theft or a felony, and hit and run resulting in serious injury or death. He was booked into the Coffee County Jail where he remains.