72-year-old lady successfully fends off carjacking suspects

After attending the Winter Garden Blues & BBQ Festival, Carol Ann Hall and her friend Morgan never suspected they would end their evening covered in bruises after having defended themselves from two suspected carjackers.

"When we fought them it was the most frightening moments of our lives," said Hall, who is 72.

The two ladies had walked back to their car, which was parked in the lot across from the First Baptist Church of Winter Garden a little after 8 p.m. They were shutting the car doors when the two men seemingly appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the doors to prevent them from closing.

"So I went to shut the door on my side and somebody grabbed it and yelled at me that this was a carjacking and to get out of the car, but I said, 'No, you're not taking my car,' and I struggled to get the door to shut," Hall explained.

During the struggle, the man on her side attempted to forcibly remove her from the car and ripped her shirt off in the process. He suddenly obtained her keys, and the next thing she knew the men had run off with her keys in hand, preventing them from leaving to a safe spot. Hall suspects something must have temporarily spooked them, because a little less than two minutes later, she estimates, they returned.

And tried again.

Hall's friend Morgan was on the phone with 911 dispatch during the mens' second carjacking attempt. 

"She was already on the phone with 911 and we were screaming frantically while they tried to get into the car again," Hall said. "I had locked the door, but he obviously had the remote car keys and could unlock it and get into the car again. So he just kept struggling to keep the door open enough to get at me again."

One of the men had thrown a brick or cement object through the passenger window that time around, Hall said. But soon after the man threw the brick, Hall and Morgan heard police sirens and watched the two men flee.

Both women received minor injuries during the ordeal. Hall said that while using her left leg to keep herself anchored inside the car, she damaged a muscle. She also received bruises on her shoulders and back throughout the struggle and was transported to the hospital because she was unable to put any weight on her leg. Her friend Morgan was cut by the glass and brick that was thrown into the car on her side and has bruises on her neck and shoulders.

The two suspected carjackers, Shannon Taylor and Lucius Jeanfort, were apprehended shortly after with the help of a civilian who heard the police sirens and started chasing the fleeing men.

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Contact Gabby Baquero at [email protected]