The Blotter says: 2 teens charged with attempted capital murder of cyclist. Woah.

This news is fucking crazy:

Two teenagers have been charged with attempted capital murder after police say they robbed and shot a man near Manchaca Road in South Austin last week.

James Ray Perkins III and Paul Rios, both 17, also are facing several other felony charges in connection to the shooting and another robbery in the same area, according to an arrest affidavit.

According to an arrest affidavit:

A man was riding a bicycle about 11 p.m. Sunday on Manchaca Road just north of Slaughter Lane when a man approached and asked to use his cell phone. The victim obliged, but then noticed that the man was not dialing and that two more men were approaching, the affidavit said. When he tried to leave, the victim was pushed down an embankment and began fighting with the man who had approached him, the affidavit said.

Before he could make it up the embankment, the victim was confronted by the other two men, one of whom was carrying a silver semiautomatic pistol. The men then ordered the victim back down the embankment and made him surrender his wallet.

One of the men took the victim’s ATM card to a nearby Texaco, took money out of the account but was upset that there wasn’t more available. The three men then decided that the victim should be executed. During this discussion, the victim ran toward a drainage tunnel but was shot in the butt.

The victim was taken to University Medical Center Brackenridge, officials said.

Detectives noticed similarities between Sunday’s incident and one that occurred Thursday afternoon in which a teenager on a bicycle was robbed at gunpoint, the affidavit said. According to court records, a teenager was riding his bike on Roxanna Drive near Slaughter Lane about 3:30 p.m. when four men called him over. The teenager recognized Perkins, who he said went to high school with him, and a man he knows as “Southside Paul.”

While they were talking Perkins robbed the teen of his cell phone, fired a shot into the air and punched him in the face, the document said.

The teen later was able to identify Perkins in a photo lineup, the document said.

Detectives then showed the victim in Sunday’s robbery a photo lineup, and the victim picked out Perkins as the man who shot him, the affidavit said.

Perkins was arrested Monday and admitted a role in the robbery but said that Rios had fired the shot, the affidavit said. Perkins allowed detectives to record two phone calls with Rios, in which Rios appeared to admit to firing the shots, the documents said.

The victim later picked Rios out of a photo lineup as one of the men who robbed him.

Rios and Perkins have been charged with aggravated robbery, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, attempted capital murder and engaging in organized criminal activity, the affidavits said. Perkins is in the Travis County Jail on $165,000 bail. Rios is not shown jailed at this time.

Damn. I'm glad "Southside Paul" and his buddy are behind bars where they belong. Freaking nuts.