EDINA, Minn. — Edina police are now offering a $5,000 reward for anyone who has information about Thursday’s carjacking outside Lunds & Byerlys.
It happened just before 5:00 p.m. near the front of the grocery store.
The victim is now speaking out to raise awareness of this ongoing issue of carjackings in the Twin Cities.
To protect her identity we are not sharing her name.
"I'm feeling like a victim for the first time in my life,” the victim said.
You can see the scars, and that's how she wants it.
Seeing her face is like seeing the problem, and now that you've seen it, you can't look away.
"It's not just the old or the weak that are being attacked. It's everyone. I'm young and I'm strong and I'm capable and I'm a victim of this."
The victim of a carjacking, like so many others that have happened in recent months, but rarely do they turn this violent.
"They tried to come at my face. That's when they started hitting me from the side and the back of the head.”
She says one of the most disturbing things about this attack was the shear boldness of these carjackers. It happened at the grocery store, in the middle of the afternoon, in broad daylight, and she was parked just a few steps away from the front door.
"My immediate response was to scream, 'help.' My throat is really sore today from screaming that loud, at that decibel for that long.”
She says two women heard her and got the attention of a few men who brought their truck and boxed in the attackers' vehicle.
“I was halfway out that door, because they opened it and tried pushing me out, but I was still seat-belted in,” she explains.
“Somehow they got it into drive, so we slammed into the car in front of us.”
She says the two men confronted the attackers and tried to fight them off.
Edina police say three people were injured in the altercation, including one good Samaritan who suffered serious injuries.
"And what ultimately stopped it was there was a third community helper who came around and he had a gun, and everything stopped. The fighting stopped. The chaos stopped and the attackers stopped attacking."
One day later, she's now sharing her story, hoping it will encourage others to take their personal safety seriously and for elected leaders and police to put an end to the violence.
"At the end of the day, all I can do is move forward and let my face be seen and let my voice be heard and hopefully somebody has the ability to make change so this doesn't happen to anyone else."
Edina police believe the carjackers in this attack are also responsible for another carjacking in Saint Louis Park.
In that case, Saint Louis Park police are also offering a $5,000 reward for any information that helps lead to an arrest.