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.
(MORE: Carjacking Victim Receives Death Threats)
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.
MORE: Israel Keyes’ Serial Murders End with a Suicide, But No Answers