2 carjackers threaten to kill woman in lot

Two carjackers and a car full of accomplices remained on the loose Thursday after they robbed a woman and stole her car from a Costa Mesa strip mall parking lot, police said.

The two men, described by witnesses as gang members, acted like they had a gun and told the woman they would rape and kill her if she didn’t give them the keys to her silver 2004 Volvo SUV, said Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Zack Hoferitza.

The woman, a 40-year-old Newport Beach resident, was walking to her car at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday after shopping at Grower’s Direct at West 17th Street and Placentia Avenue when she was approached by two men. One of the men simulated a handgun by putting his hand under his shirt and demanded her money and car keys while the other man watched.

The woman gave the men cash from her wallet, left the keys in the car and walked away. She then called 911 and told police the carjacker threatened to shoot and rape her. She was not injured, Hoferitza said.

One man got in the car and drove away. A group of men and women, believed to be friends of the attackers, drove off in a blue four-door sedan. It’s unknown if the second carjacker got in the victim’s car or left with the car full of friends, Hoferitza said.

A witness trailed the carjacker driving the Volvo, who headed south on Newport Boulevard. As the driver realized he was being followed, the friends in the blue sedan tried to threaten and intimidate the witness, police said.

As the suspects’ cars drove in a circle around the Costa Mesa neighborhood, police received numerous 911 calls from drivers reporting that cars were driving erratically at high speeds, Hoferitza said.

Police units from Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, along with the police helicopter, responded but were unable to find the two suspect cars, which were last seen near 17th Street and Orange Avenue in Costa Mesa.

Early Thursday, police found a green pickup, reported stolen out of another city, in the parking lot where the carjacking occurred, Hoferitza said.

“We believed they dumped the car there, probably ran out of gas and money and decided to carjack this other vehicle,” Hoferitza said.

Although police officers never saw the carjackers or their friends, witnesses described them as gang members wearing “gang attire,” Hoferitza said.

Minutes before the carjacking, an anonymous caller dialed 911 and said that a group of 10 to 12 “gang types” were loitering in the parking lot and threatening people, Hoferitza said.

The first suspect, the man who drove off in the victim’s car, was described as a black man in his early 20s. He was 5 feet, 11 inches, weighed approximately 180 pounds, had black hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a baggy white T-shirt and blue jeans.

The second suspect was described as a Latino man in his early 20s with a shaved head and medium build. He was 5 feet, 7 inches and weighed approximately 140 pounds. He was possibly wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans.

Anyone with information about the carjacking should call the Costa Mesa Detective’s Bureau, (714) 754-5206.