A woman was abducted outside of a Trussville store Tuesday night, and held at gunpoint for at least two hours while she was forced to withdraw money from various ATM machines.

The incident happened about 6 p.m. at the Target on Gadsden Highway.

Trussville police Capt. Jeff Bridges said a man got into a woman's vehicle while she was returning her shopping cart in the parking lot after finishing her shopping and loading up her car. The man, described only as a black male, hid in her back seat. When she entered her vehicle, he pointed a gun at her and demanded she drive.

The gunman made the woman, 40, drive to several areas in Birmingham while robbing her of cash and other items. He eventually got out of her car and ran away. The woman told police she wasn't familiar with the area where he got out.

She then called police. She was shaken, but unharmed.

Police were initially called to the scene on a report of several car break-ins. They were reviewing store surveillance video in that case when they saw the suspect getting into one of the vehicles.

"They saw the suspect break into one vehicle and then go into another unlocked vehicle," Bridges told Scott Buttram of The Trussville Tribune. "Then they saw the female victim come to her car and put her merchandise inside. She left her back door open and she pushed her shopping cart to the appropriate area and our officers saw the black, male suspect jump in her car."

"When she returned to the car, she closed the door and got in. She never saw him inside," Bridges said. "The officers knew immediately that they were dealing with a possible kidnapping."

At that point, Bridges said, the officers went to work trying to identify the victim and obtain specific information on the vehicle she was driving, as the surveillance camera angle was too wide to provide those details. "The officers backtracked her into the store on the camera and followed her back to see which register she used," he said. "They were then able to get her credit card information which allowed them to pull her drivers license info and identify her and her car.

"It was a lot of detail work," Bridges told the Tribune, "but it's what our people are trained to do and the officers were on top of it."

Bridges said that the victim walked in the police station at about the same time officers had positively identified her. "The most important thing is that she is safe," Bridges said. "Obviously, anyone would be shaken after an ordeal like this, but her safety was our number one concern."

The case remains under investigation. More information will be released as it becomes available. Police have not yet released surveillance photos or footage from Target or any of the ATMs.