Masked Man Hides In Back Seat, Forces Woman At Gunpoint To Hit ATM
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - "This can't be happening." Those are the four words used by a Dallas woman who survived after a masked man sneaked into her car, then forced her at gunpoint to withdraw cash from a couple ATMs.
It happened at the Walgreens on Mockingbird Lane at Matilda Street just after midnight on Friday.
The victim, Alyse Van Scoy, had borrowed her husband's car, and accustomed to her vehicle's auto lock feature, ran inside without securing the doors.
"My car automatically locks when I get out. I didn't even think about that. I didn't even think about looking in the back. Lesson learned," she said. "To me it always happened to someone else and then it happened to me. And that's when it was like, you just got to lock your doors. Check the back even if you're in a safe neighborhood."
While inside, a man wearing dark clothing and a mask got in the car and hid in the backseat. When she pulled out of the parking lot, he grabbed her, put a gun to her head and forced her to drive to two different ATMs to pull out cash.
"So I turned around and it was a mask, I was like, 'this can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening.' I make this trip all the time. I've been here 10 years. I've made this trip thousands of times," Van Scoy described.
She said he even threatened to shoot her in the leg if she "tried anything".
After they went to a second ATM at the Bank of Texas on Greenville Avenue and Milton, the man told Van Scoy to drive back toward the Walgreens, down a few residential streets until she arrived near Vanderbilt and Greenville Avenue where he got out.
Van Scoy called police when -- shaken -- she arrived home. She says Walgreens has security footage of the man staking out cars in the parking lot for about 30 minutes before he found the victim.
Police are investigating but have no suspects at this time.
They're asking anyone with information about this attack or any similar attacks on women in the area, to contact the Criminal Investigations Division at 214.671.3584.
Crime Stoppers will pay up to $5,000 for information called into Crime Stoppers that lead to the arrest and indictment for this felony offense and other felony offenses. Call Crime Stoppers at: (214) 373-TIPS (8477), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
