Lubbock County Sheriff’s Deputies were called to a building owned by Phil Johnson at 8215 C.R. 2500 just after 7:30 Wednesday morning.  Officers were told that someone tried to break into the building and a suspect was held at gunpoint by someone associated with the business. 

About an hour later, deputies called a tow truck to the scene to take possession of a pickup truck. 

EverythingLubbock.com went to the area where the incident was reported Wednesday and met Phil Johnson, the owner of Johnson’s Pumping  who said he was the person who held the suspected burglar at gunpoint.  Johnson owns the building where the robbery happened,  he explained that the building was under construction and had only recently been stocked with building supplies. 

Johnson explained that the thief had entered his building earlier that morning and stolen over 50 metal sheets. Surveillance videos from one of Johnson’s neighbors showed what appears to be the suspect in his vehicle arriving at 6:17 in the morning, opening a garage door, backing the truck into the opening, then driving off by 6:25 a.m.

That same car reappears at 7:17 a.m., entering through the garage door left open earlier.  At 7:27 another man walks in through the open door, Johnson said that was him..

“I was coming to work it was about 7:20, I noticed the overhead door on our building was open when it shouldn’t have been open, so I drove up next to the building, went inside and there was a gentleman in there with a vehicle in the process of trying to attach a trailer to it,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the man inside the building tried to explain that he was an employee working in the building. But Johnson said the man’s stories didn’t line up and he knew the man wasn’t supposed to be there. 

The suspect might have gotten away if Johnson hadn’t acted quickly. 

“So I just told him close the building up  when he leaves, and then I went to my vehicle and got my gun and walked back in and told him to have a seat, then called 9-1-1,” Johnson explained. According to the timeline on the surveillance footage, Johnson held the man for roughly seven minutes until sheriff’s deputies arrived and arrested the suspect. 

“I didn’t even really think that much about it, it I guess it was just a natural instinct to do that, I just did what I felt I needed to do,” Johnson said of holding the suspect at gunpoint. 

Johnson is still left with an extra headache,  he lost $1,000 worth of construction materials when the suspect first burglarized the building at just after 6 a.m.

But he’s comforted by the fact that the culprit didn’t get away.

“I mean I don’t like getting stolen from, but I’m glad we caught him,” Johnson said. 

The Lubbock County Sheriff’s Department said a suspect was arrested but the name was not public record because the investigation is still pending.  This story will be updated as new information becomes available.