Woman carjacked heading to work, car found in Port Allen

BATON ROUGE – A woman headed into work at a downtown hotel was held at gunpoint as a thief stole her car just steps from the lobby entrance early Tuesday morning.

The woman told WBRZ Chief Investigator Chris Nakamoto, she parked at a metered spot along St. James Street near the corner of France and the entrance to the Belle of Baton Rouge when she was carjacked between 5:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. The carjacker held a gun to the woman's head and stole her keys.

The woman's SUV was found hours later on the west side of the river. The keys were missing and the person who stole the vehicle is still at large as of this post.

The apparent random crime is frustrating to downtown tourism officials who said while the crime was an isolated incident, people should always be vigilant.

“[It's] very unfortunate that this would happen,” Davis Rhorer of the Downtown Development District, said. “People… need to be very cautious.”

Rhorer hopes security cameras in the area will help police lead to a suspect and an arrest.