MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A grandmother who has fallen on hard times was carjacked at gunpoint along with her 7-year-old granddaughter outside an East Memphis hotel.
Linda Orange is visibly shaken after being carjacked and robbed outside the Extended Stay America on Quail Hollow Road in East Memphis just after midnight Thursday.
Police said three suspects held the woman and her granddaughter at gunpoint when the suspects took their money, phone and car with an oxygen tank inside.
After pulling into the parking lot she said a man wearing a hoodie asked to use her phone.
“Next thing I know another guy had hopped out of an SUV…I just saw him reach over and point a gun to my head… and the third guy went around and pointed a gun to my grandbaby head,” Orange said.
Her 7-year-old granddaughter woke up fearing for her life.
“He had put a gun to me. I was sleep but my grandma had woke me up and I was freaked out,” the girl said.
According to the arrest affidavit, the three suspects demanded Orange give them her cell phones, ID, and all her property, even refusing to let her have several tanks of oxygen.
“I’m just blessed to get out with my life and blessed to have my grandbaby still here,” Orange said.
The woman said two of the suspects left in a gray SUV and the other got away in her newly purchased 2014 Honda CR-V.
One of the suspects has been identified as 18-year-old Tkai Gardner. He was captured about 16 hours later after police said he wrecked Orange’s car near Raines and Hickory Hill.
He’s facing multiple charges including carjacking, aggravated robbery and reckless endangerment. MPD is still searching for the other suspects.
If you know anything about Wednesday morning’s armed robbery incident, you are urged to call CrimeStoppers at 901-528-CASH.
