MEMPHIS, Tenn.– A Midtown mother who was carjacked on her lunch break believes this crime could be connected to another carjacking near the University of Memphis.
Surveillance video shows Rachael Osteen pulling into the driveway of her apartment building on South Auburndale Tuesday afternoon. Seconds later, a white car appears, and she said the two men who approached her were wearing masks and armed with handguns.
“I tried to walk past calmly and that’s when the first gentleman put a gun to my head and asked for my keys,” Osteen said.
She said she quickly gave up her keys to her Hyundai Elantra and the suspect ran towards her car in the backlot.
“The other gentleman raised his gun and asked for my purse,” she added.
Her phone and wallet were also inside her purse.
After she handed it over, she said the second suspect jumped in the white car with another driver and all three suspects took off.
“That was the most terrifying part about it. It seemed like a very nonchalant yet planned event,” Osteen said.
Osteen, a single mother of two boys, said she’s just thankful to be alive and the attack felt targeted.
“I was just thankful in that moment,” she said. “We were being watched. I think we were being scouted. They found out our routine.”
Police found her car outside an apartment building in North Memphis hours later.
Detectives reported getting a suspicious vehicle call to the complex that also led them to a white Kia Forte that was carjacked days prior in the University of Memphis area.
Osteen believes it’s the car the suspects were driving when they came to her home.
“These gentlemen were very young and it absolutely breaks my heart,” she said. “I hate they put their lives on the line for 6 hours of fun with a car.”
Police have not confirmed if the two carjackings are related.
If you know anything call Crime Stoppers at (901)-528-CASH.