Bandits Bagged After High-SpeedGunfight

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - (12/23/05) – Three heavily armed assailantswere captured during a blazing gun battle on Highway 35 Thursdaymorning after the three robbed San Antonio FCU. The three suspectsexchanged shots with pursuing officers during a high-speed chaseoutside the city, which ended with the capture of the three gunmenafter their getaway car rolled over the highway median. TrooperGeorge Correra, Jr., 34, was apparently shot by the suspects whenhe and other officers surrounded the getaway vehicle as the robberstried to flee. One suspect, Michael Hurtado, 23, was shot in theeye by a San Antonio police officer after the chase ended. As manyas 20 vehicles, including 16 police cars, were hit by gunfireduring the high-speed shoot-out, with the windshield blown out ofat least one police cruiser. The three suspects, dressed inmilitary fatigues, brandishing semi-automatic weapons and wearingbullet-proof vests, burst into the credit union's North Side branchearlier Thursday morning and made off with an undisclosed amount ofcash. They initially fled in a white Lincoln Towncar, which wasfound burning nearby. The vehicle they were in during the highwaychase as a pickup truck.