Car salesman kidnapped during test run

Houston-area auto dealerships are on alert after a salesman made a dramatic escape from kidnappers while out on a test drive.

Martinez described the men as tall, black, and skinny. “I can tell you this, the friends I have in the vehicle business are definitely talking about it and our team sent out an email to everybody letting them know what happened and precautions we need to take for the future for this not to happen”, explained Tommy Kuranoff, General Manager for Momentum BMW on the Southwest Freeway. “It was good. I just held his hand and that was it”, said Melissa.

“They started beating him and shoved him in the back of the trunk”, said Melissa.

It started out like any other potential sale at the dealership – a customer walked into the showroom at about 6 p.m., handed salesman Jose Martinez an ID, and then the two got into the $40,000 muscle auto to take it for a spin. “Yeah, I shot him pretty good”.

While the salesman was in the trunk, a friend was tracking him on his phone which led the friend to this intersection at Wrenthorpe and Rockhampton.

The salesman managed to break loose and escape the trunk during a stop, leading to a violent altercation with the two suspects. “He didn’t feel like he wanted to go back in the trunk, got in a fight with them, was able to get the pistol away from one of the suspects, and shoot one of the suspects”. After a short tussle, the salesman got the gun from the thief and fired multiple shots, police said.

Police recovered surveillance video from Gillman’s, along with one of the suspect’s cell phones, photos, and sets of several fingerprints, according to the incident report filed in the case.

Martinez knew just what to do.

“I asked them why they were doing it while I was in the trunk”. After a chase, which ended in a crash, all three men fled.