Suspect uses pumpkin mask in Madison Heights carjacking, robbery

MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich. (WJBK) - Thieves in disguise, the disturbing trend continues.

The latest incident was with an armed robber wearing a pumpkin mask in Madison Heights. It could be a copycat crime or the same person as a person in a clown mask has been connected to a number of crimes recently.

Police are looking into it, they have surveillance video from the pharmacy where it happened and want the person responsible behind bars.

"This guy he had on a mask, it was like a pumpkin mask and it was scary," said the victim.

And one this woman who did not want to be named won't soon forget after a frightening run-in with an armed robber Thursday afternoon in Madison Heights.

He came up to my car and said get the (expletive) out the car," she said. "And he said 'Walk away now, walk away now.' And he showed me the gun."

It happened in the parking lot of the Sona Pharmacy on Dequindre just north of 11 Mile Road. The victim's mother watched helplessly as the masked man stole her daughter's purse and 2010 Lexus.

"He did it so quick and it was ...  what ran through my mind was, "God please wrap your arms around her, please,'" said her mother.

Thankfully neither woman was hurt.

The creepy encounter and robbery is the latest in a string of crimes committed by people in Halloween masks.

The man behind a clown mask tried to rob a Livonia Days Inn Thursday morning after sticking up employees at the Embassy Suites. It all ended in a police chase and the suspect firing shots at police.

Authorities say the same man may also be behind armed robberies in Ann Arbor and Brownstown Township. 

Sterling Heights police are investigating a report of a man dressed as a clown attacked boy with what he believed to be a knife.

Police in Madison Heights have surveillance video of the carjacking and are eager to get the suspect in cuffs and off the street.

"How dare he just come take something that doesn't belong to him," said the woman. "How dare he just violate me like that."

The suspect fled south on Dequindre in the victim's black Lexus ES 350 with a Michigan license plate number BGQ 815.

The victim says the suspect is about 6 feet tall with a slim build. He was wearing a dark blue Michigan hooded jacket, dark pants and an orange pumpkin mask.

If you have any information please call Madison Heights police at (248) 585-2100.