Just before 10:00am, Tuesday, September 14th, Grants Pass Police Officers were dispatched to Safeway regarding reports of a two elderly citizens in the Safeway parking lot being robbed of there vehicle and dragged across the parking lot.
Officers arrived within minutes to find the victim and her passenger had both received minor injuries when pulled from the vehicle by the suspect, later identified as 33 year old Paul Silez jr., before the suspect had fled the scene in the victim’s vehicle.
The stolen 2008 Hyundai SantaFe vehicle information was immediately sent to surrounding police agencies. The subsequent investigation revealed the suspect had been inside Safeway just before the robbery and his image was captured by surveillance cameras.
At approximately 12:24pm, the Grants Pass Police Department was advised the California Highway Patrol was in pursuit of the vehicle southbound on I-5 in the Mt. Shasta area.
At approximately 12:28 PM CHP advised the vehicle had crashed at high speeds on I-5 south of Dunsmuir. The suspect, Andrew Paul Soliz jr., was taken into custody but was reportedly in serious/critical condition following after crashing the vehicle in California while being pursued by CHP.
Soliz was later released from the hospital Tuesday, and lodged at the Siskiyou County Jail on numerous California felony charges including a parole violation. He will be additionally charged with second degree robbery and second degree assault stemming from his crimes in Grants Pass, Oregon.
