A California woman's quick thinking got her out of a dangerous carjacking attempt in Oakland, according to local news.
The woman was driving along Skyline Boulevard behind a white Dodge Charger around 8:30 a.m. July 21, when the Charger pulled out in front of her and two suspects got out of the vehicle, as FOX 11 Los Angeles first reported.
"They pulled in front of me, the guy jumped out, ran toward me with a gun…" said the woman, who spoke with FOX 11 on the condition of anonymity.
Dashcam video footage inside the victim's SUV shows the Charger pull out in front of her vehicle, leaving little room between the suspect vehicle and a divider in the middle of the road.
The suspect driver can be seen running out of the Charger and toward the victim's vehicle while pointing a gun in her direction. Then, a second suspect wearing a black ski mask gets out of the passenger side of the Charger and runs toward the other side of the victim's vehicle.
The victim said she thought the suspect fired a gun three times, but he was apparently "rapping on the window" of her car, she told FOX 11.
The passenger suspect, whom the victim believes may have been a woman, tried to open the passenger door as the driver suspect knocked on the victim's window.
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"I punched it, I went around their car, and I drove away as fast as I could trying to get some place safe," she said.
The dashcam footage shows the victim speed between the suspect vehicle and the road divider as the suspects follow her down a hill.
"I had the horn going, and I was driving fast and hard, and I wouldn't let them get up next to me," the victim said, describing the ordeal as "scary." "You've got to have a plan. You've got to be aware."
The Oakland Police Department told FOX 11 that it has a suspect identified. The suspect may be linked to other carjackings in the area.
There were a total of nine carjackings in Oakland, located just east of San Francisco across the bay, between July 17 and 23, according to police. There have been more than 300 total carjackings so far this year – an increase compared to carjackings over the same time period in 2021 and 2022, Oakland crime statistics show.
