Truck owner tracks down his stolen rigs, shootout ensues

The owner of a truck yard in California was involved in a shootout early on Wednesday morning after tracking down his stolen rigs all by himself. 

The incident happened on October 27th in Malaga, California. 

According to Fox 26 News, the owner of the trucks arrived at his truck yard on Wednesday morning only to discover that two of his trucks were missing. He promptly used GPS to track one of the trucks to American and Peach Avenues, where he found it abandoned. The owner reclaimed the truck and went on the hunt for the second one. 

The owner tracked the rig to Garfield and Olive Avenues in Fresno, but when he arrived at the scene, he found only a U-haul with two men standing next to it. As the owner approached the men, one fired multiple gun shots at him. The owner happened to also be armed, so he returned fire. The two suspected thieves then fled the scene in the U-Haul. 

Luckily, the owner was not struck by any of the bullets and was able to reclaim his second stolen truck from that location. It is unknown if he hit either of the suspected thieves. 

Later that morning, officers responded to reports of a partially filled diesel tank lying in the road near McKinley and Chateau Fresno in West Fresno. Officers determined that the tank had likely fallen out of the back of the U-Haul truck as the suspects fled. 

Detectives now have reason to believe that the thieves used the diesel tank as part of a fuel-siphoning scheme. 

The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office has since confirmed that the owner of the stolen trucks was licensed to carry and that the U-Haul involved in the incident was stolen.