Overnight wrecker chase destroys taco stand

So here's a weird story from northeast Harris County overnight: When a wrecker driver repossessed a man's car — or stole it? — he and the car's owner ended up in a high-speed chase that resulted in gunplay and the destruction of a taco stand.

It started at about 11:30 p.m. yesterday when the tow-truck driver said he was repossessing a car at a home in the 4200 block of Weaver. The car's owner apparently showed up at some point during the process, and according to KPRC, he shot the wrecker driver twice in the back as he was driving away with the car in tow (KHOU says several shots were fired at the driver, but doesn't say they hit him, which makes a lot more sense to us). The driver continued on his way and the car owner gave chase along the Eastex Freeway, weaving off the feeder road through business parking lots:

"A black Impala was right behind the tow truck and the guy driving pulled out a gun," [McDonald's manager] Josue Lopez said. "As soon as I saw that, I told my crew to stay out of the windows, we're not serving customers."

Not customers with guns, anyway. Eventually, the car owner pulled in front of the tow truck, causing the wrecker driver to lose control and sending the towed car, a red Mercury Sable with a classy trunk-mounted spare tire kit, careening into the Tacos las Panchas stand. The wrecker driver, who did suffer gunshot wounds at some point, was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital.

What's not clear is whether the wrecker driver was actually repossessing the car: KHOU and KPRC say he was, the Chronicle says he was, and KTRK says police say he was stealing the car. In any case, both the Sable and the taco stand were totaled. "Well, it's shocking. I feel bad for my mom. She's the one that pays the bills and everything," Tacos las Panchas' owner's daughter, Ana Karen Resendiz, told Channel 13. "This is going to cost us, pretty much."