ESCONDIDO, Calif. (KGTV) — Multiple people were injured, including two young children, late Thursday after a vehicle reportedly involved in a carjacking crashed into a pickup truck and then into a nearby taco shop in Escondido.
An SUV was reported stolen in Oceanside just before 10 p.m. The victim was at a parking garage trying to help jump another driver's car when two suspects approached them and took the SUV at knifepoint, Oceanside and Escondido Police confirmed.
Just after 10 p.m., the SUV collided with a pickup truck at the intersection of North Fig Street and East Valley Parkway in Escondido. The driver of the truck was ejected and sustained life-threatening injuries. That person was taken to Palomar Medical Center, police said.
Six people were inside the SUV when it crashed into the restaurant, including two adult males, two adult females, and two young children ages three and five. Police said the two adult females and two children sustained minor injuries.
The two males fled the scene, police said, but were arrested a short distance away. They were identified as 20-year-old Hans Velasquez, of Oceanside, and 19-year-old Anthony Quezada, of Escondido.
Velasquez was arrested for carjacking, felony driving under the influence of alcohol, felony hit-and-run, and felony child endangerment. Quezada was arrested for carjacking.
The owner of the taco shop told ABC 10News that no one inside the restaurant at the time of the crash was injured.
