Police were searching for a knife-wielding woman who went on a carjacking spree and stole a man's vehicle in Irvine on Monday night.
Investigators said the woman first tried to carjack another woman who was sitting in a vehicle that was in a parking lot in the 17000 block of Von Karman Avenue shortly before 6 p.m., officials with the Irvine Police Department said.
The woman ordered the driver out of the vehicle, but she refused.
"She pulled me out of my truck. Hit me in the head," the victim can be heard saying on a 911 call. "Threw me onto the ground."
Moments later, the woman approached a man who was sitting in his car that was parked in the same lot. Police said she pulled out a knife and demanded he get out of the car.
The man complied and the woman drove off in his car.
Investigators said the carjacker ditched the vehicle near the Costa Mesa Police Department.
Police arrived to the Irvine parking lot in response to a 911 call and found both victims uninjured.
Costa Mesa police also said there was a carjacking or an attempted carjacking in their city at around 6:15 p.m., before another attempted carjacking also happened in Tustin at around 7 p.m. Tustin PD said all the incidents are connected.
In the latter incident she attempted carjack a woman in a parking lot of a shopping plaza at intersection of Jamboree Road and Edinger Avenue in Tustin at around 7:09 p.m.
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Witnesses saw the incident and scared her away. When the suspect ran from scene she flagged down a passing vehicle and told the driver that she needed a lift. Witnesses saw her get into that car and making her escape, and told cops that they thought it was a getaway vehicle. However officers later tracked the car down and the driver told officers she only asked for a lift and she had dropped her off at the intersection of Edinger and Redhill Avenue.
The woman was described as 5-foot-2-inches tall, weighing 130 pounds. She was wearing a navy blue sweatshirt and jeans.
Anyone with information was asked to call Irvine police at 949-724-7000.
Hetty Chang and Annette Arreola contributed to this report.
