MEMPHIS, Tenn. — While Brandy Hammond stocks her car for the New Year, she keeps an eye out.
“I’m conscious of who’s around me and my surroundings. I’m constantly looking around. I don’t unlock my car until I’m at my car,” Hammond said.
She’s right to worry.
Police say a woman was carjacked a few hours earlier at the Kroger on Summer Avenue.
They say an armed man all black committed the crime while the victim was loading groceries into her car around 8 a.m. Tuesday morning.
Related: Police respond to carjacking at Berclair Kroger
“It’s just the time of the year,” Hammond said. “People are out of work and are looking for the last strand. They’re trying to make ends meet.”
Less than five hours later, police say the same crime happened again at the Kroger on East Shelby Drive.
“I just see the police come in and fly everywhere. I was doing a deposit. I was like ‘What going on?’ I guess this is how they kick off the first of the year,” shopper Bret Thompson said.
Police say a man in all black approached a woman in the parking lot and took her silver Ford Escape.
This time, they say the suspect did not have a weapon.
Authorities are not sure if the two incidents are connected.
Thompson says they are connected at least in one way, they both happened in the city he calls home.
“We have to be proactive. We have to get involved from the citizen aspect and from the community aspect. It’s got to be more than prayer. Faith without work is dead,” said Thompson.
Police say both are okay.