Tractor-trailer driver abducted at gunpoint, cargo items stolen. Details emerge on UPS hijacking

A gunman who stole several packages from a UPS truck in northwest Atlanta this week had help from at least two other robbers, according to a police incident report.

The alleged hijacker climbed aboard the 18-wheeler and kidnapped the driver at gunpoint moments after the tractor-trailer pulled out of a UPS hub along Fulton Industrial Boulevard early Tuesday morning.

The driver was bound for Macon and had a full load of packages that he was scheduled to deliver to a UPS facility there. But he got intercepted less than a mile into his long haul around 3 a.m.

One of the gunman’s accomplices was a man who crossed the street and stopped in front of the big rig as it approached the intersection of Fulton Industrial Boulevard and Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway, according to the report. The 56-year-old driver told officers the man, who later helped unload the stolen cargo from the UPS truck, distracted him while an armed man opened the door and jumped into the passenger’s seat.

Once inside the truck’s cabin, the intruder pointed a gun at the driver’s head and ordered him to drive to the back of a vacant property along Maynard Court just off Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway, the police report indicated.

That’s where the three robbers zip-tied the driver, then took about a quarter of the cargo, police said. According to investigators, they transferred the stolen items to another vehicle that was waiting in the abandoned lot. One of the men took the driver’s cellphone.

Atlanta police released audio from the driver and his supervisor’s 911 call Tuesday morning. The driver told a dispatcher he was not injured. He was only a little chilly from being locked inside the back of his tractor-trailer for several hours until co-workers traced his location.

“They never harmed me other than zip ties,” the driver said. “They zip-tied my hands while they were throwing stuff off the (truck).”

According to the police report, the hijacker initially ordered the driver to merge onto I-285 head

ing northbound and to exit at Bolton Road. The driver said they wound up doing a big loop and ended up back near Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway, where the ambush originated. The gunman ordered the driver to turn left on Maynard Road, onto the former grounds of Bankhead Courts, a public housing project demol

ished in 2011, where the other two robbers were waiting at a gate.

The driver’s co-workers, who became suspicious when he did not make it to his delivery point in Macon, used GPS to track the abandoned 18-wheeler. After seeing packages strewn around the outside of the truck,ups managers discovered the driver bound and locked inside the trailercabin and called 911, according to police.

A UPS spokesperson said, “The safety of our employees is our highest priority and we’re thank

ful that our driver is safe, but we don’t comment on active investigations or share our security protocols.”

The driver said all three robbers wore masks and dark clothes and he wasn’t able to provide descriptions.