A 41-year-old man suspected of carjacking one car and trying to make off with a second while a child was in the backseat was arrested in Garden Grove on Sunday morning, police said.
At about 7 a.m., Phuong Ngoc Nguyen approached a victim at Brookhurst and 15th streets, demanding the person’s vehicle, a red 1995 Toyota Camry, said Sgt. Phil Schmidt of the Garden Grove Police Department.
The victim said Nguyen, a Garden Grove resident, allegedly had an item on him resembling a gun, Schmidt said.
Nguyen fled in the Camry, leaving his bicycle behind, the sergeant said.
As officers put out a suspect description, police in nearby Santa Ana received a call of a hit and run at Corta Street and Roberts Drive involving a car with a description that matched the stolen Camry, Schmidt said.
Nguyen allegedly lost control of the stolen Camry and crashed it into a parked car, he said.
Neighbors guided police to a front yard on Roberts Drive where Nguyen was hiding in the bushes, the sergeant said.
Police took the suspect into custody at gunpoint at about 7:55 a.m.
While searching the scene, officers found the item the carjacking victim said Nguyen presented.
“The object was a black bracket wrapped in plastic that was fashioned to look like a gun,” Schmidt said.
Further investigation revealed the Nguyen had abandoned the car he allegedly tried to steal and attempted another carjacking prior to the officers’ arrival, he said.
After crashing the Camry, Nguyen allegedly tried to carjack a parked car with a man already in the drivers seat and a young child in the backseat, Schmidt said.
“The father was able to remove the child from the vehicle as the suspect attempted to leave,” he said.
Nguyen apparently could not get the vehicle to start so he fled and hid in bushes as officers arrived.
He was arrested on two counts of alleged carjacking.
— City News Service