'He's got a gun!' alleged carjacking victim yells to get officer's attention

SALT LAKE CITY — A man already accused of stealing a woman's purse at gunpoint has been arrested for allegedly carjacking a man at random, according to police.

Jackson Nshimiyimana, 19, was arrested Thursday for investigation of aggravated robbery and interfering with an arresting officer.

Early Thursday, a man told police he was sitting in his car near Redwood Road and California Avenue looking at his phone when Nshimiyimana opened into the passenger door, pointed a gun at him and kept repeating, "Don't play with your life," according to a police booking affidavit.

Nshimiyimana then forced the man to drive to a nearby bank and withdraw money from an ATM.

"We are gonna go get money and you will give it to me," he told the man, according to the affidavit. "I don't give a (expletive) if I kill you right now."

Nshimiyimana then hit the man in the face multiple times with his gun, the affidavit states.

When the withdrawal did not work, Nshimiyimana ordered the man to go to another bank and "removed the magazine from the handgun to show (his victim) that there were bullets inside the gun," according to the affidavit.

About 1:40 a.m., as the two started to drive to look for another bank, a Salt Lake City police officer was stopped at a traffic light at the intersection of Redwood Road and California Avenue. The man pulled up next to the officer, jumped out of the driver's seat and yelled, "He's got a gun!" while pointing at his car, according to the affidavit.

Nshimiyimana then got out of the car and ran. Backup officers found him about four minutes later and arrested him, the affidavit states.

Nshimiyimana was charged in September in 3rd District Court with aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony, as well as aggravated assault on two counts of stealing a bank card. In that case, Nshimiyimana grabbed a woman's purse and ran, according to charging documents. As the woman pursued Nshimiyimana he turned around and pointed a gun at her, the charges state. A preliminary hearing on that case was scheduled to begin Dec. 21.

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