Home invasion, carjacking suspects arrested after high-speed chase in Jacksonville

Officers arrested three men after a crime spree that included a home invasion, car theft, carjacking and high-speed chase in Jacksonville.

Tyler Sowders, 19, Andrew Perez, 20, and Alejandro Perez, 21, were arrested Wednesday after a high-speed chase led to two crashes in Jacksonville, authorities said.

Police said the crime spree began three days earlier when Sowders and Alejandro Perez shattered a window at a Jacksonville home and stole a gun, hundreds of dollars' worth of belongings and a car.

According to police reports, the suspects fled in the victim's mom's blue 2006 Saturn Ion after the homeowner woke up and saw them in his home.

A woman reported that a blue car approached her on Wednesday as she was walking on Hartley Road.

She said a masked driver got out with a gun and told her to give him her purse. She said the man cocked the gun in her face, took her purse and phone and drove off.

The woman said the blue car returned about five minutes later and one of the men gave back her purse and said, “Sorry, didn’t know you had kids.”

The man also gave her back her phone, she told police.

Shortly after the robbery, police got a call about an armed carjacking at Avesta Apartments.

A woman there told police a blue car cornered her as she was leaving the apartment complex and three masked suspects got out and demanded all her belongings.

She said two of the men got into her white 2014 Ford Focus and fled. The woman told police the other suspect got back into the blue car and fled.

Officers began tracking the suspects via the victim’s cellphone. They got behind the stolen white car at the intersection of Baymeadows Road and Freedom Commerce.

Officers said the suspects in both cars fled.

Officers chased Alejandro Perez, who was driving the white car, for 20 miles before he crashed at Ocean Street and Orange Avenue, authorities said.

It's unclear from police reports where the pursuit of the blue Saturn ended.

Sowders, Andrew Perez and Alejandro Perez were arrested immediately after the chase. A third person fled on foot and was not arrested.

Police said they found a black BB or airsoft gun in the blue Saturn.

Cox Media Group