Three suspects, one as young as 16 years old, are accused of carjacking a vehicle with Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) students inside in New Haven last October, police said.
A 21-year-old woman who attends SCSU was driving her father's 2006 Ford Explorer with a 19-year-old female student and 21-year-old male student on October 24. Police said the trio drove to the Rock Ridge Park Nature Center Parking lot to talk.
According to the students, three young men approached the car, reached through an open window and grabbed the driver by the neck before holding a knife to her throat, New Haven police said.
The two other suspects demanded the passengers give them cash, one victim's watch and another's ring before they led the two students into the woods next to the parking lot. While they were in the wooded area, the suspects told the victims to be quiet or they would be killed, according to police.
After the driver was brought to her friends in the woods, the suspects took off in the SUV towards Hamden. The vehicle was found the following Wednesday by SCSU police in an off-campus parking lot on Springside Avenue.
On Nov. 11, one of the suspects linked to the carjacking, Angel Garcia, 19, was spotted in New Haven and brought into custody. He was also served two unrelated warrants.
Two days later, a 16-year-old linked to the carjacking was brought to New Haven Police headquarters by his father.
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Finally, on Nov. 17 a tip to police said the last suspect, Ezequiel Gonzalez-Vazquez, 20, was hiding in a New Haven apartment on Hamilton Street. Police found him in a bedroom closet.
All three were charged with robbery, larceny, robbery involving an occupied vehicle and conspiracy to commit all three crimes. Gonzalez-Vazquez was additionally charged with possession of a dangerous instrument and fourth-degree sexual assault.
The 16-year-old was also charged with carrying a dangerous weapon.
