UPDATE: Police have arrested the carjacking suspect
LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) – Police are looking for the man who held a woman at knifepoint and stole her car in a local parking lot.
Her attacker forced her out of the vehicle before taking off in her car.
“That’s traumatizing, I can’t even imagine. That really shocks me,” Lynn Drobish, who lives just two blocks away from the shopping center, told KLFY.
Lafayette Police found the vehicle this afternoon near West Congress and Cajundome Boulevard.
They are still searching for the suspect
Officers responded to the call on West University Avenue near Cameron Street just before 8 a.m.
“I almost came here after eight. I can’t believe it,” said Drobish.
She is shocked because the shopping center is typically a friendly place, “We are all kind of family here like the girls, they all know me, they say hello. We are kind of invested in each other in this community.”
Corporal Paul Mouton, with Lafayette Police, says the 62-year-old woman was sitting in her car when the suspect approached her.
“When the suspect approached the vehicle with a knife in hand, there was an altercation and a struggle between the two,” Mouton explained.
Carl Sonnier is a pastor in Lafayette and was surprised to hear the news.
“It was really surprising for me to hear this especially that day and time, eight o’clock in the morning, you know daylight. Somebody is just really desperate,” Sonnier said.
Mouton says during a struggle, the victim was cut on her neck.
The injury was not life-threatening but she had to have surgery and is recovering.
Police are still looking for the suspect.
Anyone has any information in connection to this crime is asked to call Lafayette Police or Crime Stoppers at 232-TIPS.
