Police seek three suspects in carjacking
Woman’s vehicle taken as she left apartment complex parking lot
Police are searching for three suspects after a woman was pulled out of her vehicle Thursday night in a parking lot near 106th Avenue and 102nd Street.
The carjacking — the second such incident in three days — happened around 11:30 p.m. Thursday.
A 45-year-old woman was alone in her vehicle after dropping off a relative in the area. She was exiting a parking lot near an apartment complex when police say three men in their 20s whose faces were hidden behind scarves approached the vehicle.
One man got in the passenger side of the vehicle and one opened the driverside door, pulling the woman out. The men then jumped in the vehicle and drove away. They did not say anything during the theft.
“She wasn’t injured, but obviously she was a little traumatized by the incident,” said Downtown Division Acting Staff Sgt. Michael Hickey. “She’s not from Edmonton, she was out from a neighbouring area, dropping someone off and doing them a favour.”
The vehicle, a grey Ford Freestyle, licence plate HUX 341, hasn’t been recovered.
Hickey said police see a lot of stolen vehicles, but carjackings are rare.
The incident comes after an assault and car theft Tuesday at a west Edmonton strip mall. The two incidents are not believed to be related.
A person of interest was arrested at a north Edmonton residence Friday afternoon in connection with the incident in which a 46-year-old woman and a seven-yearold girl were approached by a man in the parking lot of a strip mall at 170th Street and 99th Avenue.
The man pointed what appeared tob e a hand gun and demanded the car keys.
When the woman and child tried to flee, the man threw the woman to the ground and assaulted her. Bystanders ran for safety when the man pointed the weapon at them. He then threatened a 56-year-old man driving a Toyota Venza drove off in the car, police said.
Police found the car near 149 th Avenue and 66th Street around 5 a.m. Thursday.
Hickey encouraged people to beaware of their surroundings, lock their car doors and travel with other people when possible. If people find themselves in such a situation, Hickey said to be co-operative.
“Just do what you’re told, and hopefully as with this case, the perpetrators just got in the vehicle and left,” he said.