The suspect who was foiled during an attempted carjacking last week is still at large and any information that can be provided would be helpful, according to Lt. Richard Goodwin of the University Police Department. The would-be carjacker is described as a Hispanic male in his 30s with a tattoo on his left arm, a goatee, around 5 foot 10 inches and having a thin build.
The attempted carjacking occurred on the morning of March 15, when the suspect approached, a vehicle waiting to pick up a female student at the South turn around near parking lot 7. After telling the driver of the vehicle that he’d fight him for the car, the suspect opened the driver’s side door and grabbed the driver by his sweater. The driver put his vehicle into reverse, which knocked the suspect down and may have resulted in the the driver running over the suspect’s limbs.
The suspect then fled the scene in an early 2000s white Toyota Tacoma that he had left idling during the carjacking attempt.
Bike Thefts
A gray and blue MOTIV mountain bike was reported stolen from Parkside Commons on Saturday night. The bike had been secured with a cable lock and has a CSULB ID tag.
A red Cannondale bicycle was also reported stolen from outside the College of Business Administration on Wednesday night.
Potential bike thefts interrupted
A student reported a suspicious individual loitering near the bike racks between the Vivian Engineering Center and the Engineering complex around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. The individual was reported as having a backpack full of metal tools and was on their own bicycle, and the reporting student stood near them until they left the area.
Members of the University Police Department were able to find the individual described and briefly detain them for questioning. With nothing to charge the individual with, they were released shortly thereafter.
In addition, a pair of bike thieves were caught in the act at the Residential Learning complex on March 14. A 60-year-old black male suspect was seen by a witness hammering on a bike lock with a metal bar while second male suspect dressed entirely in black clothing could be seen assisting him.
After receiving the call from the reporting witness, members of the UPD arrived on the scene and confronted the older male suspect, but were not able to find the second man. The suspect was ticketed and cited for the attempted theft as well as trespassing before being let go.
“We ran him for checks on outstanding warrants, which apparently this guy did not have,” Goodwin said. “The officers on scene decided they would cite and release him. Which is an arrest, you still have to go to court.”
Multiple missing items from gym
Two women reported items as stolen from the women’s locker room at the Student Wellness and Recreation center on Wednesday afternoon. In both cases it was reported that the items were placed inside of the secure lockers before they were stolen and there had been no sign of forced entry on the lockers themselves.
However, in one case, the items were then sent to the lost and found and subsequently returned to the female student who had reported the theft. In the other case, no other information was reported.
Cubby theft at dining hall
A blue Jansport backpack was reported stolen from the Parkside dining hall on the night of March 14. The female student who reported the crime said that she had left the backpack in the cubby area while she was in the dining hall, and had left the backpack unattended for around 40 minutes.