Man Attempts 3 Unsuccessful Carjackings in Same Parking Lot

An unidentified man who reportedly tried to carjack three cars in the same California parking lot on Thursday discovered that the third time is not necessarily the charm.

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An unidentified man who reportedly tried to carjack three cars in the same California parking lot last week discovered that the third time is not necessarily a charm.

At about 2:45 p.m., a suspect described by police as a thin white male between 40 and 70 years old with leathery skin and “gray, scraggly hair” allegedly confronted a woman as she left her car at a Target store in Oceanside, located on the state’s southwest coast near Marine base Camp Pendleton. U-T San Diego reported that the man, who was carrying a black backpack and wearing a pink shirt, blue jeans and a blue denim jacket, revealed what the woman thought was a knife and commanded her to re-enter her car. She obeyed, but then drove away, ditching the suspect.

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Immediately after his first attempt, the man approached another woman exiting her vehicle, flashed a handgun and ordered her to get back inside her car. The woman ran inside the store to report the attempted carjacking, NBC reported.

The suspect then tried to steal a third automobile, targeting another woman getting out of her car. He forced the victim, at gunpoint, to leave her keys in the car and to remove a club anti-theft device from the steering wheel. But before she left, the woman activated a switch that killed the ignition. When the suspect unsuccessfully tried to start the vehicle, it locked him inside, forcing him to smash a window in order to flee.

Despite searching the area, Oceanside authorities were unable to find the suspect, who witnesses said appeared to be a transient, NBC reported.

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