Students on high alert after armed robbery, carjacking in UNC Charlotte parking lot

CHARLOTTE — A mother is warning UNC Charlotte students to be careful after her daughter was robbed at gunpoint and carjacked Saturday.

It happened in the middle of the day in a student parking lot near the University light rail stop.

Channel 9’s Jonathan Lowe spoke to the mother of the victim on Monday.

She declined to speak on camera.

While she says her daughter wasn’t physically hurt, she made a social media post to raise awareness of a serious safety issue with students, parents, and more importantly UNC Charlotte.

“It’s pretty scary,” said student Stephane Michon. “I park here all the time, every other day.”

A Niner Alert sent to students warned the suspect was seen leaving campus in what we’ve learned is the student-victim’s Kia Optima.

“It does kind of scare me to park here again,” said another student, Carolina Scism.

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“I’m not from a big city, so I’m not used to that sort of thing,” said student Jimmy Heafner. “But it happens, I guess.”

The incident has gone viral.

Michon learned about it because the victim’s mother posted about the incident on Facebook.

The mother said she was on FaceTime right as the suspect grabbed her daughter and demanded the victim’s keys and other property.

“The guy robbed and then he made her kneel down and put the gun to heard, said ‘you better pray,’” Michon said.

It’s important to note: the light rail station is next to the lot where the incident took place, which is in the interior of campus, rather than on the outskirts.

“I would just travel in a group, never park alone or at least be on the phone with someone, or carry pepper spray,” Scism said. “I feel like there’s only so many precautions you can take.”

The victim’s mother warned readers to tell their children to be careful.

“Just because it’s daytime they don’t need to think that they’re safe. Because they’re not,” she said on Facebook.

On Monday, Charlotte City Council approved an agreement to extend boundaries UNC Charlotte campus police have authority over.

The extended jurisdiction stretches east past Interstate 485, to the south along Old Concord Road, and along a significant portion of North Tryon Street.