Santa Rosa police looking for armed carjacker

Santa Rosa police are looking for an armed man who stole a car after forcibly removing the victim who’d been living in the vehicle.

The carjacking occurred about 12:30 p.m. Aug. 8 in a parking lot on Hopper Avenue near the Highway 101 ramps where the victim had been parked.

The 35-year-old was approached by a man armed with a pocket knife and he suffered minor injuries after he was forced out of his Chevrolet Malibu, police Sgt. Chris Mahurin said.

Minutes after officers got to Hopper, they were notified about an incident in the Coddingtown Mall parking lot involving two people and a vehicle matching the Chevrolet’s description.

The mall is about 2 miles south of Hopper.

Mahurin said someone reportedly opened a car door and struck the side of another vehicle. The second vehicle’s owner confronted the man, who ran away and left behind the stolen Chevrolet.

The car was returned to its owner

The carjacker is only described as a white man in his 30s and police want anyone with information to call authorities.

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @colin_atagi.