Carjacking spree by East County man leaves 4 people victimized

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – Four people were victimized Tuesday afternoon during a
rash of East County carjackings believed to have been committed by the same gun-
toting bandit.

The spree of armed auto thefts in the Spring Valley and Rancho San Diego
areas began about noon, when a man threatened a worker at a smoke shop in the
9600 block of Jamacha Boulevard in Spring Valley and demanded his car keys,
according to sheriff's officials.

The thief took off in the victim's car, Lt. Mike Munsey said. About a
half-hour later, a similar-looking man pulled a gun on someone on Pointe
Parkway and stole an SUV, and a third vehicle – a gold pickup truck – was
taken from its owner at gunpoint in similar fashion about 12:45 p.m. on Sundale
Road, the lieutenant said. At least two of the autos were soon found abandoned.

A fourth carjacking in the same general area was reported later in the
afternoon, Munsey said. Details on that crime were not immediately available.

Witness descriptions of the perpetrator – a bald, tattooed white man in
his 40s, armed with a pistol – were similar in each of the cases, leading
investigators to believe the same man likely carried out all of them, Munsey
said. At least one of the carjackings occurred at the scene of a residential
home invasion, he said.