Actions

Grandmother carjacked outside Chesterfield store : ‘No one helped!’

Posted at 6:30 PM, Dec 23, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-23 19:10:44-05

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- A Chesterfield grandmother called what happened to her a "scary situation."

Cindy Sutton, 61, said Friday night she pulled into James Mart Petrol Convenience Store, off Harrowgate Road in Chester, to pick up a few items.

Inside her car were some Christmas presents for her grandchildren.

She got out of her car, locked the door, and went inside the store.

A few minutes later she left the store and walked back to her car.

As she approached her car, she pulled her keys out to unlock her door.

That's when she said a man appeared and demanded she hand over her car keys.

"I'm telling him no. You're not getting my keys," she said. "I fought with him to hold onto [the keys], but he eventually got them away from me."

Sutton said she believed that at age 61 and just five feet tall, she looked like an easy target.

She said during the attack she was screaming for help, but people who were standing nearby just watched. No one stepped up to help her.

"My heart sunk," her daughter Jennifer said about her feelings upon learning about the attack. "At first in my mind I'm thinking he could have killed my mother."

Later Saturday morning, police stopped the man suspected of attacking Sutton.

Alphonso Johnson was taken into custody.

Johnson was a patient at John Randolph Medical Center Behavioral Health mental health facility who escaped the hospital on Friday.

Crime Insider sources told Jon Burkett that Johnson assaulted a nurse and escaped.

Sutton's Dodge Neon, which had Christmas presents for her grandchildren inside, was towed to a holding lot.

Sutton learned Saturday night Chesterfield County Police had arranged for her to get her car back before Christmas. Sutton said she was hopeful all the presents were still inside.

CBS6-News-at-4pm-and-Jennifer-Hudson-480x360.jpg

Entertainment

Watch 'The Jennifer Hudson Show' weekdays at 3 p.m. on CBS 6!

📱 Download CBS 6 News App
The app features breaking news alerts, live video, weather radar, traffic incidents, closings and delays and more.