‘I fought back:’ Belleville car salesman describes armed carjacking, suspects still at large

Belleville, Il. (KMOV) - Workers at Savannah Motors in Belleville say this was a car theft unlike anything they have ever experienced before.

“Dragged me out of the car, kicked me out and got in telling me, ‘I’m going to blow your brains out,’” said Alex Munive.

Munive has been a car salesman at Savannah Motors for about a year, and he often finds his customers via car ads he puts up on Facebook marketplace.

“Saturday, right about 11 o’clock in the morning, I had an ad up for marketplace for a Dodge Challenger,” he said. “The guy was actually pretty on time with telling me, ‘Oh hey, I’m dropping somebody off, and then I’m picking this person up. I’m picking [up] the money from the bank. I’ll be there as soon as I can’.”

The prospective buyer showed up at the shop with a friend in a black Honda Accord, which they parked across the street at a restaurant by the shop.

“I got a picture of [his] ID, which ended up not being him, but I couldn’t tell because he had a hoodie on, his glasses on,” said Munive.

Munive shared surveillance video of his initial exchange with the two men who showed up to purchase the car: a man with a brown sweatshirt and hat on and another man with a black jacket and mask. Munive is in the red sweatshirt showing them the hood of another car.

The man in the brown sweatshirt asks Munive to take the challenger for a test drive, but the other man in the black jacket hopped into the Honda Accord and left.

“We drove around the church. Just one block,” said Munive. “It was kind of weird, actually. It was just one circle and then he said, ‘Yeah, I like it. I’m going to take it.’”

Munive said the man took him behind a building near the shop, and that is when he started to fight for his life.

“Pulled up next to the Honda that went to drop them off. And they were just like, ‘Get out of the car.’ I came out, he had pointed the gun at me, and pointed it at my head,” said Munive.

Two more men got out of the accord and attacked him.

“I fought back, yeah. If it was my time, it was my time. And I didn’t really feel like getting kicked around anymore,” said Munive “I just got up and started hitting them. I know I landed a couple punches and said, ‘Well, whatever happens, happens. I guess.”

At least one of the men took off in the challenger and the other suspects in the accord.

The Metro East Auto Theft Task Force tells News 4 Belleville police spotted the accord later that day crashed on I-70 near Missouri’s state border with two a-r style pistols inside.

They later captured one of the suspects near the crash site, 18-year-old Justin T. Johnson. He was the one seen in the surveillance video wearing the black jacket.

“You can’t trust anybody really you just got to be careful. Aware of your surroundings. Check IDs. If you have a mask on tell them to take their mask off,” said Munive.

Police are still looking for the other pictured suspect, and the other two suspects Munvie said were also involved in the armed attack. The challenger is also missing.

“It’s not just St. Louis City it’s everywhere,” said Munive. “I mean we can’t just blame St. Louis City for all the things happening everywhere else. It really just is everywhere.”

Munive said they are offering a cash reward up to $2,000 dollars for help in returning the car or information leading to the arrest of the remaining suspects.

Meanwhile, Johnson is facing multiple charges in St. Clair County, including aggravated vehicle hijacking with a weapon, two counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and aggravated fleeing a peace officer. Johson’s bond is at $200,000, and he remains at the St. Clair County Jail.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Metro East Auto Theft Task Force at (618)825-5420 or their local police department.

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