A brazen broad daylight attempt to steal a man’s car ended up with the suspect getting a free ride to the hospital after the car’s owner shot the would-be carjacker during a struggle.

The incident unfolded at a gas station on the north side of San Antonio Tuesday morning when the driver of a Honda Accord pulled into the convenience store parking lot to fill up. According to authorities, another man pulled up in a truck beside the Honda driver, stepped out of his vehicle, and then tried to get behind the wheel of the Accord.

The car owner got in the passenger side and fought with the man as the suspect put the car in reverse and hit the gas, driving over a sidewalk. That’s when the car owner pulled out a gun and shot the suspect multiple times, police said.

That suspect was transported to a local hospital in critical condition. The car owner was not injured.

Why would you try to carjack someone when you’ve got a ride of your own already? I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the truck had previously been stolen and the carjacker was simply looking for another vehicle. The driver of the Honda, distracted as he was filling up his tank, must have looked like an ideal target, but thankfully he was able to protect and defend himself.

The suspect was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

The car owner was taken to police headquarters for questioning.

Soliz did not have identifications for either man, he told reporters. And it is unclear what charges, if any, either man will face.

[San Antonio Police spokesman Nick] Soliz said there was no one else in the pickup truck that the suspect was driving and that detectives are still sorting out what happened.

This is an odd story, especially given that the driver of the truck was apparently acting alone. Still, if the account given by the driver of the Honda Accord is corroborated by eyewitnesses or security video, this would appear to be a clear-cut case of self-defense.

Cities across the country have seen carjackings become much more common over the past couple of years. In Dallas, Texas, for example, there were 12 carjackings reported in 2020, but a whopping 453 reported last year. Chicago had 603 carjackings in 2019, but by 2021 the number had surpassed 2,000. New York City and Los Angeles, home to some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation, both had more than 500 carjackings reported last year; an increase of more than 100% for New York City and about a 40% increase for Los Angeles compared to 2019.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw attended a public meeting in February to give some insight into what is causing the rise in carjackings.

“We’re seeing a lot of what drove our violent crime: social media beefs, domestic violence-related incidents, accessibility to guns, and narcotics were driving our numbers in 2021,” Outlaw said.

“This is happening all over the city. Victims of carjackings have been spread across all demographics.”

Guns are no more accessible today than they were three years ago, so I don’t buy Outlaw’s entire explanation about what’s driving the increasing number of carjackings. But since criminals are more frequently arming up and taking people’s cars by force and violence, I’m glad that more law-abiding Americans are choosing to exercise their right to armed self-defense.