Woman carjacked in Riverchase Galleria parking deck

Hoover police are asking the public to help find a man who carjacked a woman in a parking deck at the Riverchase Galleria Thursday morning.

The carjacking occurred at 10:27 a.m. when a female shopper was exiting her 2013 Nissan Pathfinder in the north parking deck and was approached by a man with a gun, Hoover police Lt. Keith Czeskleba said in a news release.

He stuck a gun to her face and demanded her keys, and she complied, according to police and the woman’s mother. The gunman then left in her vehicle, which has an Alabama license tag of 1BC1345, police said. The Nissan Pathfinder was spotted in the Atlanta area Thursday but has not yet been recovered, police said.

The carjacking is believed to be related to a vehicle theft in Birmingham earlier Thursday morning, police said. A woman reported her vehicle was stolen while she was inside a convenience store on Fourth Avenue in Birmingham, Czeskleba said.

Her phone was inside the vehicle, and she was able to track her vehicle via a phone app. A family member brought her another vehicle, and she located her car as it was entering Hoover, Czeskleba said.

While calling 911, the woman pulled alongside her stolen vehicle while it was stopped in traffic in the 1500 block of Montgomery Highway. She confronted the suspect and fired two shots into the vehicle as he was pulling away, Czeskleba said. The woman then came to the Hoover Municipal Center to report the incident.

Thirteen minutes later, the carjacking at the Riverchase Galleria occurred, Czeskleba said. Police found the vehicle stolen from Birmingham in the J.C. Penney parking lot at the Galleria, he said.

The suspect was described as a black male with a medium build, about 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 9 inches tall. He was wearing a tan jacket with a gray hood. Police ask anyone with information about the case or suspect’s identity to call Detective Drew Mim at 205-739-7274. Anyone who wishes to remain anonymous and qualify for a cash reward can call Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama at 205-254-7777.