Father pleads with carjackers to let him have his son back
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — It was a scary moment for a Tennessee couple who thought carjackers might drive off in their vehicle with their son still strapped in his car seat.
It happened Sunday at the Canterbury Woods Apartments in Northeast Memphis.
Marlen, who only wanted to be identified by her first name, said they had gone to the apartment complex to visit her aunt and swim in their pool.
Marlen said when it was time to go, her boyfriend went ahead of her and put their 18-month-old in her Dodge Charger. She explained that when she left the pool area, she saw a car stop in front of her Charger.
Then, a man allegedly put a gun to the back of her boyfriend’s head.
“I’m freaking out. First thing I do is call the cops while this is going on,” she told Nexstar’s WREG.
The suspected carjacker demanded the car keys and took her boyfriend’s wallet and the diaper bag he was carrying, Marlen explained. She said her boyfriend, who doesn’t speak much English, motioned to the alleged carjacker that their toddler was still in the car and pleaded with them to let him get his child out of the vehicle.
“It was a relief when he got the baby, and then they took the car, and they left,” said Marlen.
Marlen told police two men with guns left in her vehicle and were followed by a black Nissan with at least three people inside.
Using an app on her phone, Marlen helped investigators track her Charger to a nearby home.
“I have a Dodge app on my phone that lets me know where the car is parked that I had to update to three different locations,” said Marlen. “The final location is where they found the car.”
Officers spotted her car and the black Nissan, also reported stolen, in the driveway of the residence. They reported finding one of the suspected carjackers hiding in a bathtub inside the home.
Cedric Brown was charged with carjacking, aggravated robbery, theft of property, reckless endangerment, and using a firearm to commit a felony.
Brown was convicted of aggravated robbery in 2017, so he faces an additional charge of being a convicted felon in possession of a handgun.
Police are still looking for the other suspected carjacker, who the victims said was carrying a long rifle.
Marlen said she had just cashed an $800 paycheck, and the carjackers got the money when they took her car. She is still waiting to get her vehicle back from the Memphis Police Department but is just grateful her boyfriend and son weren’t hurt.
“I was scared. I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Marlen said
Marlen bought the Charger in January and said it’s the second time her vehicle has been targeted by thieves. She said someone tried to steal it from her driveway.
“They broke out the back window so the alarm wouldn’t go off in the car,” she said, “The first time, they weren’t able to take it, but this time they were.”
Brown is being held on a $100,00 bond and is scheduled to go before a judge on Tuesday.