A missing Atlanta UPS package driver was found by law enforcement on Tuesday after allegedly being carjacked at gunpoint, kidnapped, and left bound in his vehicle after perpetrators robbed his packages.
The Atlanta Police Department reported that the incident occurred around 3:30 a.m. on Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway. The driver was forced to drive to a quiet area on Bankhead Court where he was bound and his packages were reportedly stolen.
UPS tracked the truck after it did not report to its destination on time. When police arrived, the driver was found tied up in the back. The driver was reportedly uninjured.
“While the truck was stopped at a traffic light, a person armed with a firearm got into the vehicle and forced the victim to drive to Bankhead Court,” a police spokesman said in the statement, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
#BREAKING: UPS driver kidnapped at gunpoint, packages stolenhttps://t.co/ybcdfMG5eX
— Atlanta Journal-Constitution (@ajc) December 28, 2021
“Once there the suspect, along with others, tied the victim up and stole cargo from the tractor-trailer,” he added. Approximately 25% of the truck’s packages were taken, the report noted.
The suspects have not yet been identified in the brazen robbery.
“At least one suspect got in his truck, held him at gunpoint and gave him some directions to drive around the area,” police said, according to a report by WSB-TV Altanta. “They drove to the back of the lot, where they unloaded the contents on the back of the truck and loaded it onto their own truck that had been there waiting.”
The suspect and other people tied up the driver and stole packages from the truck before they left the scene. https://t.co/tFXeqeoocO
— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) December 28, 2021
“We are thankful that our driver is safe, and will defer questions to the investigating authorities,” a company representative said in a statement Wednesday, according to NBC News.
The concerning incident follows two carjackings involving political leaders in two other states.
Five suspects were apprehended in Delaware on Wednesday last week after state police discovered them with the vehicle that was reportedly carjacked earlier in the day from Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon.
Scanlon reported her SUV being carjacked at gunpoint at FDR Park in South Philadelphia along the 1900 block of Pattison Avenue, according to law enforcement. The congresswoman was unharmed in the incident.
Scanlon’s office released a statement thanking police on Wednesday:
Wednesday afternoon around 2:45 p.m., Congresswoman Scanlon was carjacked at gunpoint in FDR Park following a meeting at that location. The Congresswoman was physically unharmed. She thanks the Philadelphia Police Department for their swift response, and appreciates the efforts of both the Sergeant at Arms in D.C. and her local police department for coordinating with Philly PD to ensure her continued safety.
Statement from the Office of Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon on today’s incident: pic.twitter.com/fomScnWUXo
— Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (@RepMGS) December 22, 2021
In addition to Scanlon’s incident, Illinois State Senator Kimberly Lightford and her husband Eric McKennie were carjacked on December 21 at gunpoint in the Chicago suburb of Broadview. Lightford is the second-highest-ranking Democrat in the state’s Senate.
“Police said three men driving a Durango took a black Mercedez Benz SUV that belonged to Lightford, police said. The state senate majority leader was dropping her hairstylist off at her home when the incident occurred,” ABC News 7 Chicago reported.