Renton Police say they have seen an increase in staged vehicle collisions in the region with the aim of committing a carjacking.
According to the department’s social media, suspects have purposefully rear-ended vehicles prior to committing the carjacking. Additional agencies including the Bellevue Police Department and Seattle Police Department also reported instances of staged vehicle collision carjackings.
The Renton Police Department’s social media provided details regarding a carjacking incident on Sept. 8. At 9:42 a.m., a vehicle reportedly rear-ended a driver exiting onto Rainier Avenue South from the Renton Walmart parking lot, according to the department.
When the driver turned to check on the two children on his backseat, he reportedly saw three individuals exit the vehicle that hit him and quickly approach his vehicle. One suspect allegedly opened the rear door of the victim’s vehicle and sat down, aiming a handgun at the children in the back seat as a second approached the driver’s side window, aiming a gun at the driver and ordering him out of the vehicle.
The third suspect reportedly entered the vehicle via the passenger side. The driver immediately complied and exited his vehicle, instructing the children to exit the backseat, according to police.
The suspects immediately fled the scene, including the driver of the suspect vehicle that reportedly rear-ended the victim’s vehicle, according to the department.
The department described the suspects as three men with dark skin, wearing dark clothing and ski masks, ranging in height from 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 11 inches. One suspect had short dreadlocks. The department described the suspect vehicle as a dark sedan.
The Bellevue Police Department reported another staged vehicle collision carjacking earlier in the day Sept. 8. Officers responded at approximately 2:30 a.m. to a reported carjacking on Bel-Red Road near the intersection of Bel-Red Road and 156th Avenue Southeast, according to the Bellevue Police Department’s blog. The victim advised officers that reportedly after a minor traffic collision with a white Kia, two men exited the Kia and aimed handguns at him as he stepped out of his vehicle to check for damage.
The men demanded his vehicle keys and after the victim refused, the suspects fled in the Kia, according to Bellevue Police.
The Seattle Police Department reported of two more previous incidents on Aug. 29 and Sept. 1 in Rainier Valley on the department’s blotter, in a request for the public’s assistance on the cases.
Both incidents involved suspect vehicles rear-ending the vehicles of victims prior to armed suspects exiting their vehicle and stealing the victim’s vehicles.
The Aug. 29 incident occurred on 49th Avenue South and the Sept. 1 incident occurred near the intersection of Martin Luther King Junior Way South and South Norfolk Street.
The victim of the Aug. 29 incident sustained minor injuries in the incident, according to the Seattle Police Department’s blotter. The Seattle Police Department described the suspect vehicle in both incidents as a “dark sedan type vehicle.”
“This is no time to gamble on your or your loved one’s safety,” the Renton department’s social media stated. “Let them have the car.”
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