A rock falling from the sky helped catch a man wanted for first-degree murder.

Lawrence Police arrested Jason A. Smith, 23, late Thursday on a murder warrant out of Texas after a bizarre turn of events in a downtown parking garage .

Police said Smith was riding in a Mercury sedan about 10:50 p.m. in the 900 block of New Hampshire Street when a rock fell from above and hit the windshield. Smith and the driver of the car, a 24-year-old Lawrence man, looked up and saw people peeking over the edge of the nearby city parking garage, said Capt. David Cobb, a Lawrence Police spokesman.

The men drove into the garage, saw three Tonganoxie teens running, and began chasing them. When one of the teens fell down, the car’s driver got out and grabbed him, and Smith began striking him with a broom, Cobb said.

Police came to the scene after a witness saw the beating in progress. Officers began sorting out what happened and eventually saw an open container of alcohol in the Mercury sedan, Cobb said.

A further search revealed marijuana and a loaded handgun, he said. Smith initially gave police an alias name – Terry L. Smith – but eventually officers learned his true name and found he’d been wanted since 2003 for a first-degree murder charge out of Richmond, Tex.

Smith is due to appear in Douglas County District Court this afternoon.