Habitual Violent Felon Arrested In San Francisco Tenderloin Attempted Carjacking
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- A violent felon, who has been arrested 10 times over the last three years for crimes in San Francisco's troubled Tenderloin District, was back in custody Sunday in connection with an attempted carjacking and kidnapping, authorities said.
San Francisco police said the incident took place Saturday in the area of Turk & Jones streets in the Tenderloin.
The unnamed suspect allegedly robbed a woman and attempted to kidnap and carjack her. The shaken and injured victim was able to eluded the suspect who was arrested a short time later. No other details were immediately available.
Investigators said they were very familiar with the suspect who has been in custody 10 times for a violent crimes in the Tenderloin neighborhood over the last three years. The unnamed suspect was being held in San Francisco County jail on a variety of charges.
The carjacking comes amid a rise in San Francisco auto thefts over the last year. Investigators said the thefts were up 33% year-over-year. Many of the vehicles have been used as getaway cars in other crimes.
"They use them for everything from robberies to more serious crimes," said Cmdr. Raj Vaswani of the San Francisco Police Department's investigative division told the San Francisco Chronicle.
To date, the newspaper reported, 5,474 autos have been stolen in the city this year. Last year, police said, there were 4,103 in the same time span.
