A Seattle woman is urging drivers to keep their doors locked after narrowly avoiding a carjacking attempt in Columbia City, part of a series of similar incidents reported across the city this week.
The woman, who requested anonymity, was sitting in traffic around lunchtime at the left turn lane at Rainier Avenue and South Alaska Street when two men wearing black hoodies surrounded her vehicle and grabbed the door handles. Her locked doors prevented entry.
“I see somebody trying to get into one of the cars in front of me,” she said. “And I look over at my passenger side, and there is a guy, like, lunging for the door.”
The suspects fled to a waiting red Dodge Caravan with its sliding door open. “The two guys ran back into this minivan, and then the minivan sped through the light,” she said, describing an older model with black hubcaps, a black grille, and complete window tinting.
The woman remains shaken days later. “My baby daughter, she could have been in the car seat. And it keeps replaying in my mind, like, what if they had gotten in?”
One day earlier, another carjacking attempt in Capitol Hill near Eastlake ended violently. Just after 8 p.m., two masked men approached a man sitting in his parked car, attempting to steal the vehicle and stabbing him during the confrontation. The suspects failed to take the car, and the victim is expected to recover.
Police reported another unsuccessful carjacking attempt two blocks away 30 minutes before the stabbing incident.
“I feel really sad that there are some youth that are so misguided that this is what they’re doing,” the Columbia City victim said.
After reporting the incident to police, she emphasized a simple safety message. “I want everybody to just lock your cars as soon as you close the door. This is so random, and it could be anybody.”
The series of carjacking attempts highlights ongoing vehicle theft concerns in Seattle, where opportunistic criminals target occupied vehicles in addition to unattended cars.
