Colorado Springs police today were trying to unravel what was reported as a carjacking at 3:40 a.m.
The car was recovered and three teenagers were taken into custody this afternoon, but neither the victim nor alleged assailants’ stories add up, said Colorado Springs Lt. Mark Comte.
The driver of the car, who has not been named by authorities, said he was stopped at the red light at South Murray Boulevard and Pikes Peak Avenue when a person walked up to his car and faked being hit.
When the driver got out, two others approached him from the back, he told police. One punched him while the other pointed a pistol at him, a police report stated.
The three then left in the 1994 Mistubishi Gallant
“We’re not sure yet that a crime occurred,” Comte said. “Apparently the victim shouldn’t have even been driving the car.”
Comte declined to elaborate further on the investigation.
The neighborhood of apartment buildings has seen several similar crimes the past year, including two men who robbed another of his wallet and car at knifepoint just after midnight on Jan. 23 about a block away. That man was also punched as he was robbed.
About 35,000 carjackings occur nationwide each year, according to a nine-year study by the Bureau of Justice statistics.
Sixty-eight percent of carjackings occur at night, the study found.
Carjacking is still an uncommon crime, however.
Statistically, only 0.2 people for each 1,000 people older than 12 years old are ever carjacked. By comparison, 31 people for each 1,000 in population are victims of violent assault, according to a 2006 Department of Justice study.
The same study found carjackings had declined 22 percent nationwide since 1997.
