FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) – An ABC30 editor spotted suspect Feng Wang at Save Mart, where he was hiding, and warned store employees minutes before he was arrested by Fresno police.
Editor Andrea Gaiton was shopping at a grocery store on Saturday afternoon when she saw the 28-year-old theft suspect.
“I recognized him almost immediately because of the tattoo he had, the fact that he was covered in soil and it was so weird that he came out,” says Gaiton. At first I was frozen, I just said to myself, “Wait, is this the man?” And then, when he came closer, I saw the tattoo and I just said to myself, “Oh my God, it’s him!”
Gaiton says they were both in the product section of the store.
“We made eye contact for a while. “He walked past me, grabbed an apple, started eating it, and walked out the front door,” she said.
No one else seemed to recognize the man who was at the center of the 20-hour fight with police and the blockade of nearby businesses and schools the day before.
RELATED: Fresno police catch suspect after he falls from the ceiling of Save Mart
That’s how Gaiton set off, warning store employees.
“After he left, I said to myself, ‘You guys, it was him, like it was the man.’ And then I told the store clerk because he didn’t know who he was, and I told him, “No, you have to call the cops because it was the man,” she said.
Gaiton says Save Mart employees were shocked because they believed the store was safe. Police said late Friday that Wang had probably fled the area.
Minutes after Gaiton’s meeting with Wang, he was arrested by police while trying to escape to a nearby apartment complex.
We do not know whether Gaiton’s actions played a role in Wang’s arrest or whether officers spotted the suspects independently.
After the arrest, police said that although they reopened the mall on Friday afternoon, they left undercover officers and units nearby.
Guess who feels through the ceiling of Savemart today? Although we may have withdrawn our visible SWAT operation, we left undercover detectives in place. When suspect Pheng Vang fled, our MAGEC detectives and northeastern patrol officers rushed to capture him. pic.twitter.com/yodRDX4EBG
– Fresno Police (@FresnoPolice) May 21, 2022
As for Gaiton, she says it may take some time for her to recover from the meeting.
“I still tremble a little because it was the closest story I’ve ever had,” she said.
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