Murder suspect from Louisiana arrested in Dallas

A violent carjacking and murder happened in Lafayette, Louisiana, Monday. The suspects and the stolen pickup drove to Dallas. Thanks to technology, by the time they got here, Dallas police were right behind them. Fox 4's Sean Rabb is in studio. Sean. Clarice, the technology that brought a stolen vehicle and the people Louisiana authorities say killed a man in DeFoeckus in Dallas is what has of late been a hot-button issue. License plate readers, known by its maker's name, Flock camera systems. Early Tuesday morning, Dallas police swarmed Motel 6 at 175 in St. Augustine. Yeah, I'm really excited to talk about this. This was a great investigation. Started off in Lafayette, Louisiana. Valerie Ploncetti tells Fox 4 when deputies answered emergency calls, they found a 35-year-old man who was dead. From there, deputies were able to determine there was a vehicle also missing from the victim's residence. That vehicle, this pickup truck. At the Southeast Dallas Motel 6, technology kept deputies on the truck's trail. We have a whole network of technology that we're able to use. And in this case, we're able to use to track the movements of the victim's vehicle. In the stolen pickup, driving six hours from Scott, Louisiana and Lafayette Parish to Dallas County and this Motel 6 in Southeast Dallas, three people who had just checked in when Dallas police called them out, hands up. On this particular case, we were utilizing Flock. We had Lafayette, Louisiana that entered a license plate into the Flock system. Throughout the investigation, they were tracking a plate. We located it here in Dallas. Two juveniles and one adult were in that hotel room. 19-year-old Jamie Martinez charged with theft of a motor vehicle and first-degree murder. Jail records listed Martinez as an undocumented immigrant. That male juvenile was also taken into custody. The juvenile is charged also with... Theft of a motor vehicle as well as first degree murder. Arrest at the speed of technology and the license plate readers, flock cameras, critical in this case. They've had increasing pushback nationwide with protests, politicians wanting them shuttered. But all these questions about security and privacy, the governor's against it, Gina Hinojosa's against it, all these folks are against it. What do you want to understand? This is technology that we need to keep everyone safe. But as I've said before, and I'll continue to say, we're going to make sure that we have policies and procedures in place. We're going to have some guardrails to make sure that this technology is used the way that it should be used. And this today is a clear example of how it should be used. So those who were arrested here picked up and returned to Lafayette, Louisiana by sheriff's deputies. By the way, Dallas Police Chief Daniel Cuomo tells me all of this happened about five minutes from where he grew up in Lafayette. And at the same time, he says he plans to continue to stand by the flock camera technology.