An armed man in Australia flagged down a news truck after allegedly fleeing the scene of an assault, confessed on camera, then carjacked the vehicle at gunpoint before crashing it into a gas tank, according to video of the incident released by 7News.
The camera operator, Peter Steer, was heading to the scene of the alleged assault when he was asked to pull over by a man on a motorcycle.
As 7News reported:
"A chap on a Harley sort of pulled me over, I thought there might have been something wrong with my car," Peter Steer said.
"He got off his bike and approached me and said 'I've got a story for you'. I said 'Well mate, you better hurry because I'm going to a shooting', and he said 'Mate, I'm the shooter.'"
The man gave Steer a gun, which Steer placed on the front passenger seat of his news van.
As soon as Steer began filming, the man gives his name and said, "I've done an extremely bad thing." He references a woman and said he hoped she was alright, adding, "I think she's dead."
Steer pointed out that the man appeared to have blood on his hands. The man asked Steer to call police, which Steer did, describing the man as "pretty remorseful at this stage."
"I surrender my soul to God," the man tearfully said while Steer was on the phone with authorities.
After about 30 minutes, Steer had to call police a second time.
"It's extremely important," Steer told police. "I have the person you're looking for."
"I feel like a coward," the man said right before sitting on the side of the roadway, barefoot. "I couldn't fight the devil."
The man eventually made his way to the news van on the passenger side. When Steer confronted him through the window on the driver's side, the man pointed the weapon at him.
"Don't be a fucking idiot," Steer said.
The man drove off and soon after crashed the news van into a gas tank at a local station. He led police on a chase around the parking lot before he was arrested.
7News cammo Peter’s vehicle now after a man held him at gunpoint, stole it & smashed into a servo | via @katietoney7
According to 7News:
The man in his forties has now been charged with one count each of attempted murder, armed robbery, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, unlawful possession of a weapon and two counts of willful damage.
The suspect is scheduled to appear in court tomorrow. The condition of the woman the man said he hurt wasn't immediately known.
Steer told his news agency, "It was pretty confronting. I wanted to get that shot of him with the gun but I didn't want to get shot."
"He was fairly upset and I should have locked the car up and next thing I knew he had gone from being 'Mr Nice Guy' to someone who was going to take my car," Steer said.
A man steals a #7news car at gunpoint before crashing it at a servo causing a gas leak. @7localnewssc at 6pm