Amber Alert: OPD Responds to Carjacking at Safeway
An Amber Alert was issued and Oakland police swarmed the parking lot of a Safeway grocery store early Tuesday afternoon in response to a report of a possible carjacking and child abduction. Jodi Hernandez reports.
WATCHLOOKMore Photos and VideosOakland police continue to search for a teenage girl and an elderly man they said were carjacked and kidnapped from a Safeway parking lot Tuesday afternoon.
The incident also prompted an Amber Alert to be issued.
Reports came in around 12:50 p.m. of a man with a knife seen entering a vehicle outside the Safeway at 4100 Redwood Road, in the Lincoln Square Shopping Center, and forcing the driver to drive away, police said.
The vehicle contained an older man and a girl, believed to be about 13 years old, Oakland police spokeswoman Officer Johnna Watson said. Police said the older man was behind the wheel.
The California Highway Patrol issued an Amber Alert within hours of the reported incident.
OPD has reports of six possible sightings of the Amber Alert vehicle, Oakland police said in an email statement sent around 3:30 p.m. Officers are en route to all six locations. If the cars turns out to be the right one, we will be notified right away."
The FBI also began helping police in the investigation late Tuesday.
Police on Tuesday night also asked people to be on the lookout for a red sedan, and not a red 2001 Infiniti SUV as they originally reported.
The vehicle's California license plate number is 6JFM648.
For hours after the incident, police helicopters flew over the vicinity announcing that an Amber Alert had been issued.
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"We don't want anyone approaching this vehicle," Watson said. "We have information that the suspect is armed with a knife ... so we want to approach this vehicle very cautiously."
CHP image shows suspect
The suspect is described as a black man in his 40s, about 5 feet 7 inches tall, with salt-and-pepper hair. He weighs about 165 pounds and was wearing a blue jacket and blue jeans, police said.
CHP released a surveillance image showing the suspect inside the Safeway store prior to the reported incident.
Just before the carjacking, the suspect was inside the Safeway and was apparently trying to steal something, Watson said.
He then fled the store and approached the SUV with the knife, she said. Police don't yet know whether he stole anything from the Safeway.
Watson said multiple customers and employees witnessed the theft attempt, and others outside saw the carjacking.
Anyone who sees the car should call 911 immediately, Watson said.
Jean Elle, Jodi Hernandez, Bay City News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Oakland-Police-Respond-to-Possible-Carjacking-Child-Abduction-244970521.html
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