MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis Police say they used a stolen cell phone to track down a carjacker who had been targeting women at area gas stations in recent weeks.
Timothy Webster, 19, was charged with three counts of carjacking and three counts of using a firearm to commit a felony in a carjacking in Whitehaven and another in South Memphis.
Police said on March 22, Webster pulled a gun on a woman at the Fill N Save in the 1300 block of Winchester and took her 2011 blue Ford Escape.
Kristin Perry said she stopped to get gas on her way to her night job at FedEx when two men got out of a white SUV and ambushed her.
“They showed me their gun and said something goofy like ‘You don’t want to do this, drop everything.’ So, I dropped it because he was young and shaky with the gun,” said Perry.
Police said Wednesday night, Webster carjacked two women sitting in a car at the Shell Station at McLemore and South Third.
One of the women told investigators she was getting ready to pull away from the pumps when a man in a ski mask and a woman forced her and her passenger out of her 2004 Infiniti at gunpoint.
One of the women told police she left her cell phone inside the Infiniti, and officers were able to track the phone to a house in Southwest Memphis.
Police said when they got to the home on Berea Road, Webster and a woman were sitting inside the stolen blue Ford Escape, and the Infiniti was also parked in the driveway.
Customers at the Fill N Save on Winchester on Friday were alarmed to hear about the carjackings.
Taikyria Butler said she comes to the gas station all the time, and it makes her more concerned about her own safety.
“It just makes me more cautious about being out alone, you know, just to watch my surroundings and stuff like that,” Butler said.
The woman with Webster was also taken into custody, but she has not been charged with anything. Investigators are still looking for the man who was with Webster at the Winchester gas station.
Perry is relieved police were able to make an arrested and find her vehicle.
“One thing I want people to realize is don’t blame yourself. Like, If I hadn’t have stopped at the gas station or if I would have done this, it wouldn’t have happened. It’s that person who did it to you,” Perry said.
If you know anything that can help police, call Crime Stoppers at 901-528-CASH.
