A carjacking and aggravated assault in the Popeyes parking lot in Bartlett left a Memphis family shaken on Jan. 28.
Earnestine Arnold, 53, said she was in the driver’s seat of her 2013 black Nissan Murano around 11:15 p.m., waiting for her grandson, Cameron Auston, 18, to finish work at the restaurant. She was backed into the parking spot when a light-skinned black male approached and banged the window with a handgun.
Auston walked across the parking lot just in time to see the suspect emerge from the bushes and bransish his pistol. He told Auston to get back and stand still.
The suspect then told Mrs. Arnold and everyone else in the SUV to get out before he shot her and Auston.
Passengers in the SUV were Randle Arnold, 56, and the couple’s granddaughter.
The carjacker told them to shut all the doors and leave the driver’s purse, cellphone and all other possessions in the vehicle when they exited.
The suspect wore gloves, black pants with a gray or black hooded sweatshirt pulled tightly around his face. His victims estimated he was about 6 feet, inch tall.
The carjacked family said the man sped out of the parking lot in their SUV and took a left on Stage Road, heading westbound toward Bartlett Boulevard.
Auston ran back into Popeyes to get his manager to call 911.
Store personnel told the responding officers that the business has video surveillance but it was not immediately clear after the incident whether cameras captured the area where the crime happened.
The vehicle and cellphone’s identifying information was entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database.
The responding officers verified that the grandmother’s cell phone was still active, and the carrier provided the phone’s current GPS coordinates.
The information pinpointed an area in the 2600-2700 block of Garden Grove in Memphis.
A knock-and-talk at area apartment complexes didn’t turn up the vehicle or the phone.
