One car stolen, second attempt thwarted

The theft of a red SUV being warmed up in a driveway Monday in the 3000 block of East 29th Street was just the start of a wild morning for a group of suspected carjackers.

Four or five people were later seen in the Ford Explorer stolen at about 6:15 a.m. from the driveway of a ,Vancouver residence, according to emergency radio traffic monitored at The Columbian. The license plate of the Explorer is AAZ-0769.

The suspects allegedly attempted a half-hour later to steal a car left running at a gas station near the intersection of East 28th Street and Northeast 138th Avenue.

Vancouver Police spokeswoman Kim Kapp said the vehicle’s owner was inside the gas station paying for fuel when he returned in time to witness a man in his vehicle and grabbed him by his jeans and wrestled him out of it. The victim described the suspect as a man in his 20s wearing a red T-shirt.

Another man climbed out of the SUV and joined the scuffle before fleeing the scene. The victim described him, according to Kapp, as a man in his 20s with a black, checked hat and scruffy facial hair.

“Although the weather is cold, it’s a terrible idea to run your car in the driveway,” Kapp said. “A second reminder: Don’t leave your car running in the gas station. It’s just easy pickings for a thief, and generally they go joyriding and committing crimes and it gets dumped somewhere.”

Sgt. Wayne Reynolds added that it’s illegal to leave a running car unattended.

No arrests had been made as of Monday night, according to police.