CHARLOTTE, N.C. — An elderly veteran was carjacked within months of another high profile robbery at the same apartment complex. In the latest case, the 80-year-old victim says he was targeted by an armed suspect.
Police say the carjacking happened Monday afternoon at the Waterford Square Apartments.
Ronald Conroy, 80, was not hurt. He said, however, he’s surprised it would happen so soon after the officer was targeted in the same apartment complex.
Conroy says he was cleaning out his car when an armed man suddenly confronted him.
“I think he felt I was an easy target,” Conroy said.
Conroy, a disabled veteran, says the suspect apologized while carjacking him.
“He said, ‘Sorry sir, I’ve got to take your car,’” Conroy said. “I looked at the gun, it looked like a 9 millimeter. I said ‘Take it’.”
It comes just months after gunfire erupted at the same apartment complex. Police say an off-duty Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department officer and her husband were robbed in December. She exchanged gunfire with the suspects; a 17-year-old was hospitalized after being hit and is facing multiple charges.
Later, 23-year-old Arthur Tyrone Mitchell was charged with multiple crimes, including assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, robbery, and burglary.
Police say minutes before the shooting, the same suspects committed a burglary and armed robbery at the same apartment complex.
RELATED: Teen injured in officer-involved shooting after attempting to rob off-duty CMPD officer, police said
“I didn’t think it would happen again that soon,” Conroy said.
After the latest carjacking, WCNC Charlotte did some digging into crime in the area. According to CMPD crime mapping, there have been 42 crimes within a mile of the carjacking in the past month.
Just last week, police say someone robbed an 18-year-old woman at the Carmel Commons Shopping Center, which is a half-mile away from the carjacking.
Conroy says he used to feel safe in the area.
“I did at one time, I don’t anymore,” he said.
Now, he’s pleading for the suspect to drop off his car somewhere. It’s a 2017 Mitsubishi Outlander, which he says he needs for doctor visits.
“It’s just tragic," Conroy said. "Robbed a senior citizen, disabled veteran, it’s crazy."
No arrests have been made in the case. Police did not say whether the carjacking could be connected to any other recent crimes in the area.
WCNC Charlotte also reached out to the Waterford Square Apartments for comment, but at this point have not heard back.
MORE ON WCNC CHARLOTTE: