Courtney Campbell carjacking suspect crashes into police vehicle, tree: TPD
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) –– A 25-year-old man is behind bars after police said he carjacked two vehicles on the Courtney Campbell Causeway before crashing into a St. Petersburg police vehicle and hitting a tree.
The Tampa Police Department responded to reports of an armed carjacking on the causeway around 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
Police said the suspect, Antwon Cummings, approached a driver in his late 20s and asked to use his vehicle to charge his phone. He then brandished a small handgun, took the victim’s car keys, and exited the vehicle.
The victim called 911 shortly after the incident.
According to police, Cummings returned to steal the victim’s vehicle and started to drive away. He got out of the vehicle, started running across the causeway, and carjacked a teenage girl who was sitting in the driver’s seat of a Nissan.
Police said he showed her his handgun and demanded she give him the keys. Then he fled the scene in the girl’s car.
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Police were able to find the stolen vehicle in St. Petersburg. Police said Cummings had crashed the car into a police vehicle, but no officers were injured.
After that collision, he crashed the vehicle into a tree in the 2800 block of 54th Avenue South. He injured his leg and was hospitalized.
A loaded handgun was recovered from the vehicle.
Cummings was arrested on two counts of armed carjacking and one count of felon in possession of a firearm. He also faces more local charges in St. Pete.
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The incident comes a few days after a Florida woman was killed in a “possible carjacking” in Seminole County. Investigators suspect a gunman climbed into her SUV. Her body was found in her car, which had been set ablaze.
Police said the suspect and victim are believed to have known each other, but investigators are still trying to piece everything together.
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