A small town Texas bank got a Christmas surprise it never saw coming. >> Randy, somebody with a mask, sunglasses, and a hat is trying to come up in here with presents. >> How? Hi. >> Hi. How are you? >> Good. Good. Good. >> Good. Got gifts. We put some in there. Nothing funny. Nobody gets hurt. >> Call 1718 open. >> I'll know as soon as somebody does something once I leave. No worries. Why are you on the computer? >> I won't let you do it while I'm there. >> Thank you, ma'am. >> You okay? Sure. Yes. 65y old female. >> Okay. >> Quickly, please. Sorry for the distress. Officers and sheriff's deputies arrived just 3 minutes later after the teller dialed 911. During that time, bank employees witnessed the suspect cross the street but never enter a vehicle. >> What's going on? Pretty good. >> Hey, Davis, you better get this under control. >> So, what what happened? >> Uh, guy walked around from the drive-thru and the tellers alerted me and said, "Somebody with a mask is coming in with Christmas presents." He walked in, walked straight up and said to put every, you know, whatever in the bag. And then he said, "Sorry for the distress." As he walked out, a bunch of cash fell. And he just kept going. And then he walked across the street. >> They said he ran towards here. 4350. Just be advised, myself and a deputy are coming from behind Texas Mattress through the woods that way. You would have had to ran somewhere back here. >> Does the guy look black, white, Hispanic? >> Completely covered just by his voice. He seemed middle-aged, but I couldn't tell. Oh. You hit a distress dispenser >> right there. >> And it only dispenses x number of bills. >> The male subject was wearing a Christmas hat. Looks like some black tennis shoes with uh >> got a few. >> I can't animal prints or maybe looks like the top part of a shoe. >> You see if there were >> Yeah, that's that's a shoe. That means he went across. >> He had to have a car over there. He ain't just >> Do we know an amount yet? >> That's what she just pointed out. 6,000. >> 6,000. >> Mhm. That's our emergency dispenser. >> He honestly had to cuz I was right here. I was at uh the car wash on 11th. So, he had to go straight through. Here's a >> Why do I feel like I know him, B? >> I don't know. >> He sounded familiar. >> He did a good job covering himself up. I can't even see any gaps. >> Wearing some soneies. I could tell that >> those shoes sone. >> I can print you a copy of her driver's license as well. >> I ain't trying to get her for a credit. [laughter] >> That's our good. >> I'm just saying. >> And he had what sounded like a police radio on him. He's got a radio. >> He has a radio on him. >> Like what kind of radio? >> Like it sounded like y'all's >> got a scanner. >> Mhm. >> Kudos to you for remembering where emergency dispenses. We just talked about that before. >> Really? >> Yeah. I'm just extra cool. All right, I'll go buy a USB. >> Ain't nothing wrong with being extra cool. Three exactly on the floor. >> There was three exactly on the floor. So you got away with three. >> Yeah. >> So it was 3,000. It was 3,000 exactly on the floor. >> 3,000. Okay. So, 6,000. >> We got like a Christmas flowery bag in the middle of the woods. >> Don't touch him. >> So, he's on foot. He don't even have a car, >> man. I don't know. >> Huh? >> He may have a car somewhere, but he didn't he didn't keep it. And their camera's cut off to see if he went over to AutoZone or something. But >> I don't think his car is anywhere around. >> I think he's that much on foot. >> It's the shoes that we're going to get him with cuz that suit he can ditch real quick. >> Yeah, but the shoes the shoes is what's going to get him. >> You think he's local? There's no way that you're that you're going to show up at a place and not be fulfilled and be on foot and not have any help to get out the way. >> It got to be somebody there. >> The officer's hunch was supported by the fact that beyond the wooded area where the suspect was last seen. There is a large residential neighborhood in the heart of town. Huntsville Police Department circulated the suspect's photo on Facebook and 4 days later they received a break in the case. >> David, I knew him from working with him a lot. He was he was the kitchen manager up there. That's how I knew him to begin with. So we were hanging out a lot at that time and I noticed hanging out with him. I figured out real quick maniac like he would be stealing random and I would be like what are you doing? Why are you doing that? You know he would be stealing stuff all the time and then shortly after that he had robbed the college and then came and told me about it. I what? And then I was like well you got to do that stuff back. He's sober. That's the part. He's sober. He's just crazy. But he brought up right away the very bank situation like the robbery asked if I heard about it and I had actually lied to him. I said no I hadn't heard about it so he could tell me about it just to see what he'd say. Anyways, one of the things like I said on the news out that I read I've read a bunch of them on different pages like the Huntsville item. One of the things that he he mentioned was like how the robber came up to the bank. Okay. Well, that's not in the description at all. That Santa Claus hat he got it from La 2 years ago. Let me during the Christmas when the restaurant opened, he had bought a bunch of Santa Claus hats for every work up there during the holidays. >> Cool. Yeah. Right. In fact, if you don't mind if I show you real quick on his Facebook, he's wearing that hat, that same one. I look at it in another picture. >> I saw that one. >> Yeah. Now, I'm not saying 100%. You know, this could all be coincidence, but it'd be a hell of a coincidence. He said, "Either my life's going to end growing this garden or it's going to end with a shootout with the cops." And I'm like, where did that come from? I was like, what are you talking about? >> Said that his life's going to end with a shootout with the cops. >> That's what he said. That or whe shoot out with the cops. I've seen this guy get in a fighter bar, but he didn't fight. He just let the guy beat him up >> for nearly 3 hours. Undercover sheriff's deputies in plain clothes surveiled David's home about a/4 mile away from the bank. While officers acting as backup waited down the street for the deputies to make their move. >> Ryan, where are you? >> Where are you? >> Has he got him on the porch? >> I think so. The guy keeps staring at him. >> Yeah, Ringo already jumped out. >> Oh, yeah, I did. >> Hey, get EMS and not to our location. >> Good, buddy. >> You're lucky you're still breathing. >> No. >> Yeah. >> Good. Good. >> Yeah. >> Broke. Is it you bleeding? >> No, it's him. >> Yeah. Double like these. >> 14th Street white male lead from the face. >> Put your knees under. There we go. I'm stand you up. >> Jenkins, is everybody secure? >> Listen to cooperate. We walk down. >> Don't not cooperate. Get a mark unit that we need. >> We got We got one. >> PLEASE. HEY. HANDS UP. [screaming] HANDS UP. HANDS UP. STAND UP. >> HE DOESN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS. >> OKAY. Shut the up. Stand up. Come to me. Get him behind behind us. >> Come to me. >> I'm passing to you. >> Clear. >> Clear back here. >> Okay, I'm going to plug this. Okay. You got door. Uh, I'll hold this. Clear. Just right here. Police department. Police. Clear. Clear. Go around. P. Okay, clear. Clear it. Go there. Is that my car beeping? >> I got a unit coming behind me. Right there. You have anything on you? It's going to stick me or hurt me. >> 101.7 K Sam [music] What's >> going on? >> How much? Came to see your friend. >> Merry [music] Christmas. >> Is that your truck back there? >> I think so. >> You got the key on you? >> I don't think so. >> Check on Ryan. >> Yeah, we we had him. I was going to get let him clean him up. >> Do we have anything on him or can we handcuff him? No, we were just securing what we wanted. I didn't know what we had. >> Uh he's not allowed to go back in the house. >> We got a search warrant. So >> yeah, tell all his friends he got real. I hit the gun, got it off him, got the gun and got the gun at that point. Ringo got >> Ringo came up there. I came up here. I was going to rifle. the window came up and he stepped up. I'm like, get on that ground. >> Take a seat. >> Your hand. >> Do you see get arrested? >> Nope. >> Don't see it. >> Nope. >> So, you're just playing video games as this is going on? Yeah. >> Heard it. Tuned out. Dialed in. We're >> good now. >> Yeah, he tried. Yeah, he tried to tried to get Ringo's gun. >> Oh, I believe that. So, he got hit in the face with a rifle a couple times. >> Hey man, I'm a paramedic. >> I apologize. We were coming. >> I know y'all were, man. I know, >> man. We We got made with There's nothing else we could do. >> I know. I know. >> The suspect, identified as 36-year-old David Rodriguez, was taken to a hospital 40 minutes away due to his injuries. After he was medically cleared for booking, he was transported back to Walker County Jail and charged with two counts of [music] robbery, two counts of aggravated assault against a peace officer, taking a weapon from an officer, and resisting arrest. In all, his bail totaled just over $1 million. The two charges of aggravated assault against a peace officer were dismissed. However, he was found guilty of taking a weapon from an officer and both counts of robbery. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, which he is currently serving at the Gibb Lewis [music] unit. David went up for parole in 2025. However, the board of pardons and parole denied his release due to the nature of his offense, his previously unsuccessful periods of community supervision, and his criminal history, which included multiple convictions [music] of public intoxication, theft, and burglary. David is up for parole review again in November 2028, but if denied, [music] he could be in prison until 2038. David made the mistake of committing his crimes in a town with a diverse and extensive law enforcement presence, especially for a town with fewer than 50,000 people. Numerous local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies operate within city limits and frequently work in coordination with each other. For instance, Huntsville is also the headquarters of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which oversees the administration of all Texas prison facilities. TDCJ [music] tracking dogs were deployed to sniff out David's trail after the robbery and pointed officers in the general direction of David's [music] home. TDCJ also partners closely with Sam Houston State University, also located in Huntsville, which is home to one of the highest ranked criminal justice programs in the country. Huntsville Police Department also maintains strong support within much of the community. The first investigator on scene after the robbery, officer Brick Davis, was honored at the Huntsville Item Reader Choice Awards as the best law enforcement officer in 2023 and again in 2026. All of these factors add up to Huntsville, Texas, potentially being the worst small town in America to rob a