Three carjackings took place in under an hour Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning on Cleveland’s west side.
Two took place within just a couple blocks of each other, according to police reports.
One involved an Uber driver waiting on a customer at West 57th and Memphis Avenue. Another involved a 20-year-old woman who was depositing cash at the Citizen’s Bank ATM on Clark Avenue and the third took place on West 50th Street.
“He got out and automatically started shooting. I heard three shots. The second one hit my arm,” said the 20-year-old woman.
She said a car carrying several armed men pulled up in front of her while she was parked at the ATM. One of the men began shooting immediately. She says one bullet grazed her arm.
The masked men ordered her out of the car and took not only her vehicle, but also her phone, wallet and the cash she was about to deposit.
“There could’ve been more, there could’ve been a group of them and they were split up and maybe that’s how they got to the other guy so fast, I don’t know,” she said.
Police investigating multiple reports of cars stolen from Cleveland area gas stations
“Twenty to 30 seconds, they did it fast, like they knew what they were doing,” said another victim.
Minutes after the first carjacking, a man was robbed at gunpoint at the 4100 block of West 50th Street and had his white Chevy pickup truck stolen right from the front of his sister’s house.
The man was about to drive home to Youngstown.
“I thought the worst, as I said, he had the gun pointed in my face and the way they jumped out the car, they were pointing the gun right at me,” he said.
Less than two blocks away, just minutes earlier, at West 57th and Memphis Avenue, an Uber driver was robbed and had his car stolen while waiting to pick up a passenger.
Police reports indicate all three may be related, taking place within minutes of each other, each with similar suspects.
“You always think, oh, this isn’t going to happen to me and then it happens,” said one victim.
Right now, none of the stolen cars have been returned to these victims and police have not indicated that they have any suspects.
Timeline: Violent carjacking spree spanned from east to west side, several cars taken at gunpoint
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