MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Ten and 17-years-old. Police say those are the ages of the suspects in an attempted carjacking Sunday on Sledge Avenue.
Darrell Troutt says he was parking his vehicle when his life flashed before his eyes.
“As I am reaching for my driver door that is when I hear, ‘I am taking your car. Give me your car.”
Troutt says, for a moment, he froze.
“The 17-year-old racked the gun. When I turned around and said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘I’m taking your car.’ He said that as he was racking the gun.”
Troutt noticed two boys were hanging out on Sledge Avenue when he parked his car. He thinks they may have been hiding in the bushes to scope out a victim.
“It was just the most bizarre thing I’ve seen in living in this city for 30 years.”
He says children were out playing and people were walking on the sidewalk through the whole ordeal. That’s what gave him a way to escape.
“I’ve always been a believer of give them what they want. But for some reason this time I did not do that.”
Troutt says he managed to slip away from the young suspects.
“My first instinct was to get out of the way, because I knew my car wouldn’t start it I was 3-feet away.”
The teenager wasn’t bluffing and decided to shoot.
“It was a shocking experience,” Troutt said. But he managed to escape by blending in with a couple that he didn’t know. He also says he hit the panic button on his vehicle to spook the suspects.
Police arrived within minutes after Troutt called 911, and an arrest was made.
He says it’s disturbing to know the suspects were up to no good at such a young age.
“Here you have a 17-year-old with a gun committing a crime, and he’s got a 10-year-old that is probably idolizing him.”