Carjackings Up in Mobile
(MOBILE, Ala.) Nov. 20 - The victim of the carjacking outside his house on Luvenia Drive tells police as he was driving home he flashed an oncoming driver to let him know he had his bright lights on. The victim thinks because of that, the driver may have followed him home.
"Soon as he got in the driveway and put the car in park, they ran up on the side of the car and told him to get out," says Greg Powell, the victim's next door neighbor. "Give me your vehicle. He say they laid him down on the ground, they took the keys and his little wallet and they got in the car and ran off. "
Afterward Powell says his neighbor ran to his house for help. "It scared him to death."
Mobile Police tell Local 15 this is one of 84 reported carjackings so far this year. Last year at this time there were 63 reported. It's a 33 percent increase.
Police can't say for sure what's behind the spike, but they have noticed offenders in all robberies, including carjackings, have gotten younger.
Powell is not surprised. "They don't want to work for what they can get." He adds, "You know some of them might joyride in the vehicle. They don't really take the car and do nothing with it but joyride or either tear them up.That's it. "
In this case, Powell's neighbor got his car back. Kenard Moore was caught driving it. Police can't say yet if he was one of the two who stole it.
The 84 carjackings so far this year have already surpassed the total of 82 for last year. Mobile Police stress that not all of the reports turn out to be actual carjackings.
