Sheriff's deputies canceled their search in Pico Rivera for a man suspected of carjacking Friday afternoon but did arrest his passenger, who had leapt out the car and run into a store.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies were following the vehicle, which was driving erratically on Whittier Boulevard. The car turned into the parking lot of a Home Depot, where a female passenger jumped out and ran into a shoe store.
She was arrested.
The driver then carjacked an elderly couple in their 80s, taking their white van in the parking lot
"He just said get out, get out. Next thing I knew, he was turning the car on," the wife said.
The woman was able to pull her husband out of the car. She said, "he would have taken him if I didn't react fast enough."
The carjacked van sideswiped a Nissan with a woman and two children inside, but no one was hurt.
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Authorities formed a perimeter around a four-block area just east of the 605 freeway but never found the driver.
During the search, Two nearby elementary schools – St. Hillary Elementary and South Ranchito Elementary – held children on campus until they could be picked up by parents.
