Teens carjack man, 36, at gunpoint outside Hamden grocery store, police say
A man was carjacked in broad daylight by armed teenagers after he left a Hamden grocery store this week, police said, one in a series of violent car crimes that are plaguing the state.
The hold-up happened about 10 a.m. Tuesday after the 36-year-old left Save-A-Lot, 1125 Dixwell Ave., they said.
Two male teenagers approached the man at his car, one grabbing a hold of him while the other pointed a handgun at him, police said. They forcibly took his keys and stole the car.
They didn’t get far. Police said their initial investigation shows that the pair drove through a red light at the parking lot exit, causing a three-car crash on Dixwell Avenue. Someone in one of the other cars had minor injuries from the collision.
The robbers ran away, abandoning the stolen car, police said. They were described as thin and 5 foot 8 to 5 foot 10. Both wore all black clothing and black facial masks.
Anyone with information about the carjacking is asked to call Det. Mark Sheppard of the Major Crimes Division at 203-230-4047. Callers may remain anonymous, police said.
The robbery is similar to one that happened about 37 miles away in the small town of Marlborough Sept. 11. In that carjacking, two armed thieves attacked a 64-year-old woman outside a supermarket around 7 p.m. as she was getting into her car, demanding money. They threw her into the back seat, put a bag over her head and beat her with a hard object, state police said.
They then kidnapped her, used her ATM card to get cash in East Hartford and drove to Berlin, where they threw the woman out of the car and torched it, police said. The woman, who didn’t know the robbers, survived and is recovering.
There have been no arrests in that case, and the state police said they were not authorized to release any updates about the investigation Thursday.
The Marlborough carjacking was among the most violent of a series of recent car-related crimes, many believed to have been committed by juveniles, which included a man being shot in the thigh when he confronted thieves outside his home in Hartford and a woman being pulled out of her Porsche outside a Rocky Hill bakery on a Saturday afternoon.
It wasn’t clear Friday morning if any of the carjackings are related.
Christine Dempsey may be reached at cdempsey@courant.com.
