College student carjacked at Ballantyne shopping center: 'It felt like a movie'

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A college student said she was carjacked at gunpoint at about 5:15 a.m. Monday at Ballantyne Village in south Charlotte.

The 19-year-old victim was in her locked car studying before going to Panera for work.

"I heard a tap at my door and I thought it was one of my friends," Jazmin Owens said.

She told police she was sitting in the driver's seat when a man knocked on her car window. He had a gun pointed at her and told her to get out.

"At first, I didn't really know what was going on,” Owens said. “It felt like a movie, like is this really happening and he kept on saying, ‘Get out of the car. Get out of the car.’"

Owens got out and the carjacker jumped in and drove off with all of her belongings.

"I'm just happy to be alive," Owens said.

Michelle Owen's got the call that her daughter's life was threatened.

"It's terrifying,” she said. “It hurts. I felt like I wasn't there to protect her."

The teen has a black belt in karate.

"Now I kind of beat myself up because I could've done so many different things, but then it could've had so many different outcomes whether bad or good," she said.

Jazmine Owens said she will be more aware of her surroundings.

"I don't want this to happen to someone else. Also, I just want justice. I want him caught," she said.

Shoppers were shocked.

“It's disgusting,” shopper Nisha Victoria Giri said. “It's scary. It's not something anyone really wants to hear about. I hope it doesn't happen again."

No arrests have been made.

Read more top trending stories on wsoctv.com:

Cox Media Group