The Hyattsville Police Department is looking for suspects accused of carjacking a T.J. Maxx employee in Hyattsville, Md. Thursday morning.
Just before 6 a.m., police said a woman in her vehicle on her way to work was boxed in by four cars near the T.J. Maxx on the 3500 block of East-West Highway. Police said one suspect got out of the car and "pointed a rifle or some sort of machine pistol at her." It is unknown if the suspects pulled her out of the vehicle.
City of Hyattsville Police Chief Jarod Towers said it appears it was just one suspect who was armed with a weapon.
The woman was not hurt, officials said.
"This is a traumatic incident for the victim, like I said I can not imagine coming into work, working hard, and coming in before the sun comes up and having a gun just shoved in my face to take my vehicle. You know this is traumatic, this would be traumatic for anybody," Chief Towers said.
Chief Towers added that he believes this incident was an extremely violent and coordinated effort.
"So here in Hyattsville, this type of thing is pretty unusual. Nationally we've obviously seen an uptick in crime, an uptick in violent crime and carjackings. This year, violent crime in Prince George's County is steady with last year's rates based on what I'm seeing with the statistics. However, this is something we're seeing an uptick in juveniles involved in violent crime. We don't necessarily know the age of the person or suspects involved in this particular case but this was a coordinated effort, this was extremely violent," Chief Towers said.
The vehicle stolen is a 2016 silver Nissan Rogue with Maryland tags: 2DT5949. The car was last seen headed west on East-West Highway.
Anyone with information is asked to call Hyattsville police at 301-985-5060. The department will be giving updates as they are made available.