‘What is he going to do?’

86-year-old woman recounts carjacking, police on high alert after rash of robberies

For nearly an hour she drove around with an armed teenager, not knowing how things would end.

“I kept wondering, what is he going to do with me? How is he going to get rid of me?” said the 86-year-old, who was the victim of a carjacking April 13.

The crime, which began in Ancaster and ended with the boy leaving her alone in the car downtown, was the first in a brazen string of robberies that had police on high alert and led to four teens being arrested last week.

The woman, who asked not to be identified out of fear, was out running an errand — returning an item to the Best Buy on Martindale Crescent — when she got back into her car and suddenly felt a gun in her side, she said. The boy said, “Don’t move.” She said she hadn’t noticed him following her around the store — a detail surveillance video allegedly shows — and it’s unclear exactly when he got into the back seat of her four-door vehicle. She suspects he slipped in as she was getting in herself.

The woman did everything he said. She handed over her purse and he stole several hundred dollars in cash and her cellphone.

He ordered her to drive to a nearby bank, where she withdrew another $300 from her bank account.

He then directed her to keep driving, but they hit traffic and a few dead end streets — the woman suspects he was unfamiliar with the area and was trying to get down the Mountain. Eventually, he ordered her to the passenger seat and he drove across Stone Church Road East, down Upper Ottawa Street and then Kenilworth Avenue into downtown.

After she handed over the money, she says he was “actually really polite.” She now finds herself wondering about his life and what led him to crime at such a young age.

The 86-year-old recalls he told her he bought the gun for $800.

He later said that he had a job, but $11 an hour just wasn’t enough money.

After about an hour he stopped the car at Rebecca and Mary streets, telling the woman he would be back in 10 minutes and not to move. He asked for the keys, but she lied and said because the car had a push start there were no keys.

He accepted that explanation and the moment he was out of sight she drove off. Despite being close to the central police station on King William Street, the woman said she just wanted to get out of there and, without thinking, drove straight home, where she called 911.

The carjacking was the first in a string of five robberies that police allege were perpetrated by four teenagers who worked together, using an “imitation pellet pistol” and dark getaway car.

A 16-year-old Hamilton boy is charged with five counts of robbery, kidnapping, four counts of pointing a firearm, threatening death, and three counts of using a stolen credit card in connection with the carjacking and other robberies.

He cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Two 18-year-olds and a 15-yearold are also facing robbery and firearm offences in relation to the other robberies, which included two other seniors being robbed in their cars, a 12-year-old boy who had a gun flashed at him, and a woman who had a gun stuck to the back of her head while walking home.

Hamilton police investigate hundreds of robberies a year — 352 according to the 2015 annual report (the latest year available). Of those, many include street robberies.

Det. Sgt. Dave Beech said police are especially concerned with robberies where a weapon is used or threatened, and in these cases the carjacking was also a “heightened concern.”

In 2015 there were 24 “forcible confinement” cases.

This case also stands out because of the rash of robberies so close together, with four of the five taking place all in one day.

Given the crime spree, police had wondered whether there were more robberies linked to the four teens. However, Beech said no one else has come forward, “and that’s a good thing.”

As for the carjacking victim, she says she just wants to put the matter behind her. She doesn’t want to testify in court.

But she’s also wary and doesn’t trust her community like she used to.

She’s double-checking that her door is locked and careful scanning her surroundings when out. She cautions people to do the same.

The events rattled her more than she wanted to admit at first. A few days afterward, she tried to go to a volunteer job and had to turn back because she was feeling dizzy, she said.

It has also made her question her community.

“The world has definitely changed, and even if we don’t like it, Ancaster has changed,” she said.