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MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Shoppers outside the Kroger at Poplar And Kirby sprang into action Tuesday afternoon when they realized someone was trying to carjack another customer.
“I saw a scuffle going on with a woman and her car, and the next thing I know, here comes a civilian with his gun drawn,” shopper Nick Borchart said.
Police said a 12-year-old boy was taken into custody after allegedly attempting to carjack a 65-year-old woman at gunpoint at the East Memphis grocery store. They say he grabbed her car keys and tried to drive off in her vehicle as she loaded groceries in her car.
Borchart said he and the shopper with the gun ran to the victim’s car, saw someone behind the wheel who also had gun, and made sure he didn’t get away.
“The guy inside with the gun decided to climb over to the other side to get out, and as he tried to do that, I swung the door open and grabbed him by the neck and threw him out and threw him to the ground,” Borchart said.
He had no idea at the time that the person he had just wrestled to the ground was only 12 years old.
“I’ve never seen a 12-year-old that big,” he said.
Shoppers at the store the next day were shocked it happened and that the alleged carjacker was so young.
WREG tracked down the 12-year-old’s mother at a motel a block from the Kroger, but she didn’t want to talk about her son.
Borchart was just glad he was there and could help.
“I give most of the credit to the guy who had the conceal carry,” he said.