A 19-year-old driver was assaulted October 3 at Barracks Road Shopping Center after letting a strange man into his car at the 7-Eleven at U.S. Route 29 and Hydraulic Road. The teen ran from his attackers, who attempted to abduct him even after he handed over his wallet and car keys.
Around 8am, City spokesman Ric Barrick confirmed, a man tapped on the teen’s window at the 7-Eleven and asked for a ride to the shopping center. Since it was a short distance, the teen let him in. Another car, carrying two men, followed the pair as they drove to the parking lot in front of Goody’s department store. There, one of the passengers exited the second car, at which point both assailants pulled out guns and ordered the teen to get into the trunk of his own car. The teen told the men they could have his car and his wallet, and fled. One man chased him and hit him in the head, but the teen was still able to escape and call the police.
City Police Captain Chip Harding says victims are sometimes better off if they run from attackers—even if their attackers have a gun: “Several national experts that have done studies say that the survival rate is much better if you give flight rather than allowing somebody to control you in the trunk of the car or vehicle.”
Harding says police have made no firm connections to an incident from several months ago, when a man tried and failed to jump into a woman’s car at the Hydraulic/29N intersection.
Police are sending the message to drivers to lock their doors while in transit, and not to let any strangers into their vehicles.
A license plate number for the getaway car hasn’t been identified, but police think the vehicle is dark gray or black with chrome rims. They are looking for one African-American and one white man, both in their mid-20s (they have not described the third suspect), and have made no arrests. Police figure the assailants are relatively familiar with the Charlottesville area.—Meg McEvoy
