CHP: Bow And Arrow-Wielding Thief Assaults, Carjacks Driver

SAN DIEGO, CA — A 32-year-old parolee who allegedly threatened a motorist with a bow and arrow and assaulted him while stealing his SUV alongside Interstate 8 in Mission Valley was behind bars Thursday.

Passing drivers saw a man later identified as Thomas Scott Mowery Jr. of San Diego walking alongside the freeway and into its eastbound lanes about 8 p.m. Wednesday, according to the California Highway Patrol.

A short time later, a 911 caller reported seeing a pedestrian pointing a bow and arrow at a Toyota Highlander whose driver had pulled over on edge of the freeway, CHP spokesman Jesse Matias said.

Officers arrived to find the pedestrian and the SUV gone and its owner injured in the area.

Paramedics took the victim, whose name was not released, to a hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

Later Wednesday night, Border Patrol agents staffing a Campo-area checkpoint detained Mowery and held him for CHP officers, who arrested him on suspicion of assault, carjacking and vehicle theft.

The victim's injuries apparently had been inflicted in some way by the weapon the thief had been carrying, though the motorist was not shot by an arrow, Matias said.

Mowery was booked into San Diego Central Jail, where he was being held without bail pending arraignment, scheduled for Monday afternoon.

— City News Service