UPDATED with ages of victims, description of suspect and additional detail on carjacking

ST. LOUIS • A carjacker who forced a woman from her car at gunpoint early Friday drove off with the woman's three children in the car, police say.

The carjacker stopped the car nearby and let the children out. They were uninjured.

The incident happened at about 1 a.m. Friday on a Schnucks parking lot, at 4171 Lindell Boulevard.

The woman, 33, was sitting in the passenger seat of her car, parked on the grocery parking lot. Her three daughters -- ages 5, 8 and 9 -- were in the backseat. A man approached her car and jumped into the driver's seat. He ordered her out of the car. She refused, police say, and the man pulled a gun and hit her in the head with it.

She got out and tried to retrieve her kids from the backseat, but the man sped off. The man drove onto Whittier Avenue, which borders the parking lot, and stopped to let the children out, police say. He then headed west on Lindell.

Police say they are still looking for the carjacker and the woman's car. The man is described as a black man, early 20s, thin build and a light complexion. He wore a red hooded sweatshirt. The woman's car is black 2015 Chrysler 2000.