Pizza Shop Stop Led to Kid Carjacking

Police are searching for this man in connection with a carjacking in the Bronx with a young child inside the vehicle.

By Dan Gesslein

Bronx Voice

November 30, 2022

BRONX - Police are looking for a car thief after he stole an SUV with a 2-year-old girl inside. The child was recovered unharmed a few miles away from the site of the carjacking.

The NYPD released surveillance video of the suspect wanted in stealing a 2020 Toyota Highlander with a 2-year-old girl inside after her grandfather went into the store with her still in the vehicle. 

At around 5:30 pm, a 43-year-old man parked in front of a pizza shop at 3969 Bronxwood Avenue. When he exited the vehicle and went inside one of the stores, surveillance video shows a man exit the rear passenger seat of a 2018 Honda Accord. The thief hopped behind the wheel of the SUV and drove off with the child in the back seat. 

Cops say the thief abandoned the truck at the corner of Edson Avenue and East Gun Hill Road a short time later. The little girl was still in her car seat with no sign of injuries. Police took her to Jacobi Medical Center for a medical evaluation. 

In the surveillance video the suspect is seen wearing a black bomber jacket with a red hoodie underneath. He was wearing a face mask at the time. No word on a description of his accomplice in the Honda he is exited from.

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/ or on Twitter @NYPDTips. 

All calls are strictly confidential.