He bought burgers for the needy. Then he got carjacked
Police said the carjacker was 40-50 years old with a medium build. She had black hair in a ponytail and was missing a "few front teeth."
Police are looking for a woman who carjacked a man at gunpoint while he ate fast food in his car in northwest Berkeley this week.
Officers already found the stolen car with the help of Flock license plate reader technology but, so far, the culprit has evaded capture, Berkeley police said.
Police described the woman as Hispanic, 40-50 years old, 5 foot 3 with a medium build. She wore her black hair in a ponytail and was missing a "few front teeth."
On Thursday just before 11 p.m., the victim flagged down a Berkeley police officer in the 1100 block of San Pablo Avenue seeking help.
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The man told police he had just bought food from McDonald's before the crime happened, "including a few extra burgers to give away to people in need."
After handing out the extra burgers, he parked on Eighth Street near Gilman Street to eat his own food.
As he sat in his car, a 2022 gold Chevy Malibu, a woman wearing all dark clothing walked up to him, pointed a gun at him and ordered him to get out. Then she took off.
Berkeley PD tracked the carjacked vehicle into Emeryville using the Flock camera system and alerted police in that city to watch out for it.
Emeryville officers ultimately found the car parked on Union Street behind two RVs.
It was occupied by a woman who matched the carjacking suspect's description, BPD said.
EPD officers saw the woman "get out of the vehicle and linger in and around the RVs," according to BPD.
But, as they waited for backup, the officers lost sight of her.
After more police arrived, they checked one of the RVs and confirmed the woman had not gone inside.
When they checked the other RV, no one answered the door, police said.
As officers waited for a tow truck to pick up the stolen Malibu they "heard what sounded like a gun being racked" near the second RV, authorities said.
"Out of an abundance of caution, officers obtained a search warrant" to enter that RV and called in drones from the Emeryville and Oakland police departments to help.
Once all the resources were in place, members of BPD's Special Response Team — what other agencies call SWAT — entered the second RV and found it empty.
The investigation is ongoing.
