Indian custom in style even when faced with a revolver.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A carjacking spree in the East Bay area of California came to a screeching halt last week when the suspect was arrested in the wake of a lengthy hostage situation.
While he was being held captive in his own Arco gas station, located on Contra Loma Boulevard in Antioch, 75-year-old Indian American entrepreneur Jagdish ‘Jack’ Bhalla took a path that many might feel apprehensive about, by offering his friendship to the man brandishing a revolver at him, even giving him an iced tea and a candy bar on the house.
“I’m from India, and anybody visiting us, whether he is an enemy or a friend, is next to God; he’s our guest,” Bhalla told the Contra Costa Times. “So, to protect him becomes our moral obligation.”
During the hours-long standoff last Wednesday, police identified the man who took Bhalla and store manager Tony Garcia hostage as 35-year-old Horacio Gutierrez.
And while Bhalla informed CBS SF that Gutierrez was “a total gentleman, never misbehaved, not even a disrespectful word,” he still feels lucky to be alive.
“He never threatened me with the revolver; he was holding it all the time, but he never pointed the gun to me,” Bhalla said to the Contra Costa Times, adding that he never felt scared during the ordeal but wasn’t sure why. “We wanted to win his favor so he wasn’t a danger to us,” he added.
Police disclosed Gutierrez has an extensive criminal past and has been arrested numerous times, including for vehicular theft and burglary. The Arco ordeal began when he crashed a stolen vehicle — one of several he had used and abused — into an unoccupied one.
He is being held on bail in excess of $1 million at County Jail in Martinez, and police expect charges to be filed Friday.
With Gutierrez in police custody, Bhalla told CBS San Francisco that if he could say anything to his former captor, it would simply be, “God bless him.”