Armed carjacking attempt on Fourth Street
A man brandished a gun at a woman and tried to take her car keys, police said. She managed to foil his plans.
Police are investigating an armed carjacking attempt in broad daylight Monday in one of Berkeley's most popular shopping districts.
The carjacking attempt took place shortly before 4 p.m. in the 1800 block of Fourth Street in northwest Berkeley.
A woman had been returning to her car when she saw that one of her windows had been smashed.
As she got closer to the vehicle, a man brandished a gun at her and tried to take her car keys, Berkeley police said.
"The victim ran away from the suspect and was unharmed," police said.
The person who tried to take the keys fled before officers arrived.
BPD said no further details could be released due to the active investigation.
Carjackings in Berkeley are down this year, with just five others reported in 2024.
Last year at this time, there had already been 14, according to BPD's Transparency Hub data portal.
Robberies overall are down about 40%, from 172 last year at this time to 102 in 2024.
Serious crime is rare around Fourth Street, and violent crime is exceedingly so.
There have been several dozen commercial burglaries and misdemeanor thefts around Fourth Street in 2024, along with about a dozen vehicle thefts and auto break-ins, according to BPD data.
