CHICAGO — A man whose sedan was shot at by an FBI agent in a supermarket parking lot after it looked like he was stealing hubcaps surrendered himself Thursday afternoon, the agency said.
William Tapes, 52, whose last known address was in the 100 block of North Central Avenue, was charged with one felony count of assault on a federal officer, the FBI said Friday.
Tapes touched off a manhunt Monday after the agents saw him appearing to steal chrome hubcaps off an SUV in a Jewel-Osco parking lot at Ashland and Roosevelt avenues, the agency said.
An agent "noticed that the SUV had shiny chrome wheels," according to the complaint. "However, the centers of the wheels’ rims were missing."
Tapes was then seen jumping in the driver's seat of a sedan with a man and a woman, the FBI said.
Agents approached him, identifying themselves as "police" and "FBI," and told him to turn off the car and get out, the agency said. The plan was to identify the people in the car before turning them over to Chicago police.
Instead, Tapes backed up the car before lurching forward and maneuvering around an FBI vehicle and driving toward an agent, "who jumped out of the way to avoid being run over," according to the complaint.
The agent "fired his handgun into the sedan," according to the complaint, then jumped out of the way and fired at Tapes' car again, according to the FBI.
Tapes' sedan was later found wrecked and abandoned on Paulina Street near Flournoy Street after it collided with another car.
Three people were injured in the wreck, but Tapes and the woman in his car left when the FBI arrived on scene, according to the agency's statement. The man who was with them in the car "was standing half in and half out of the sedan," the complaint said.
A witness told investigators that Tapes crawled out of the car's side window before running off, the agency said.
The FBI matched cellphone photos it took of Tapes with Chicago Police Department files. And the man in Tapes' car confirmed that the CPD files were of Tapes.
Tapes' surrender was arranged between the FBI and his friends and family, according to the agency.
If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
After impounding the sedan, the agents found two hubcaps inside, the FBI said.
