Shelby County Sheriff’s Deputies say a man took a young mother’s car this morning in East Shelby County and sped away with her infant son still strapped inside. The child was found unharmed a short time later after the carjacker abandoned the vehicle.

Whitney Jones, 18, who lives in East Shelby County and her eleven month-old son, Cameron, were at the Kroger gas station on Macon Road at Houston Levee this morning about 7:15. Ms. Jones had put gas in her 2006 gray Chevrolet Cobalt and noticed her right front tire needed air.

As she put air in the tire, she said a man jumped into the car and sped away. The car doors were unlocked and the engine was running. Ms. Jones said the man was not armed and did not threaten her or her son.

Jason Redding, 33, an off-duty Memphis Police Officer, was also at the gas station and saw the man take Jones’ car. Redding asked Ms. Jones to get into his black Dodge pick up truck and the two followed the carjacker east on Macon Road. Another man who saw the carjacking joined in the chase.

The vehicles followed the carjacker a mile away into a neighborhood off Macon Road. As the suspect turned south on Breezy Valley, he stopped the vehicle and ran to a house across the street at 1266 Breezy Valley.

Sheriff’s detectives say the suspect opened a wooden gate and tried to pry open a window on the side of the house. Not getting inside, the man ran from the neighborhood into a wooded area nearby.

Uniformed Deputies and officers from other Sheriff’s Office bureaus were sent to the area to search for the man. He has not been captured.

The suspect is Hispanic or black, in his twenties, and was wearing a blue and white striped polo shirt. He also wore tan and maroon checkered shorts and white tennis shoes.

A surveillance camera at the Kroger gas station took pictures of the suspect.

 Windows Media Video of the Surveillance Tape (31MB)

Anyone with information about the carjacking is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (901) 528-CASH (2274) or the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office Detective Bureau at (901) 545-5600.