Cops: 12 men jump victim randomly

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Five men were arrested for allegedly beating a man with bricks, bottles and even a palm tree branch. The attackers allegedly also tried to run the victim over and fired a gun into the air before leaving the scene. Police are still looking for seven others who may have been involved in the beating.

Early on Sunday morning on Thurgood Avenue in Northeast Austin, the victim and his friend were out in their front yard when more than a dozen men allegedly jumped out of three different cars and started to attack him.

"They came out of the truck," said Raul Selvera. "There was like six of them and [they] ran towards me."

Police said the suspects picked up bricks, glass bottles even ripping off a palm tree branch and started beating Selvera.

"My concern was trying to get off that floor, [because] I felt the brick, and I felt the bottles but when I was on the floor [they were stepping on me]," said Selvera.

Within minutes, two more cars pulled up.

"I don't even know them," said David Bocanegra, the victim’s friend. "He don't know them. A truck load of their friends pulled up...about 12 or 13 people."

Bocanegra's mother, Dorthy, heard the yelling and ran outside. She saw the men beating Selvera and called 911 immediately.

“They had his face all covered up, kicking him all over his ribs and face and everything," said Dorthy. "I heard some gun shots and ran."

Her son, David, was trying to keep the men away by swinging a metal bar from a workout bench at the attackers.

"I don’t know what they were trying to do in the yard," said David. "[There were] too many of them. I'm going to protect myself and my family and my yard."

Investigators found shell casings on the ground. Not far from the scene, an officer noticed a 1999 Ford Expedition matching the description of one of the vehicles involved and found the five suspects inside. Javier Medina Jr., Eduardo Estrada, Jorge Cebrian, Henry Allison and Andrew Allison have been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and engaging in organized criminal activity. Police said the attack appears to be random, that the men only stole a couple cell phones.

"I think they were just out for a fight and somebody to pick with," said David.

Anyone with information about the other men involved is asked to call Austin police at (512) 974-5092