Edmonton teen carjacked during Facebook Marketplace exchange

A young man who thought he was helping his brother with a Facebook Marketplace sale instead found himself being the victim of an armed carjacking in southwest Edmonton.

“I can’t even sleep at night, you know, when somebody points a gun at you,” said victim, who Global News is not identifying for due to safety concerns.

The victim, who recently graduated high school and had saved up for his 2006 Toyota Highlander, says he was helping his brother sell a pair of sneakers through an online ad.

The plan was to meet the potential buyers in the parking lot of a McDonalds on James Mowatt Trail in the Rutherford area on Monday, Sept. 28.

The brothers arrived just after 7 p.m. to find the buyers weren’t interested in shoes.

While his sibling was outside doing what they thought was the buy-and-sell exchange, a masked person approached the 18-year-old in his vehicle.

“He asked for my phone and I said ‘No, I’m not giving you my phone’ and then he pointed a gun at me and then told me to step out.”

Someone in a nearby vehicle caught the carjacking on video and shared it with the victim. The video shows two suspects getting into the Toyota SUV and speeding off.

The victim said Edmonton police arrived within 20 minutes.

The victim says the carjacking has left him traumatized, but admits the most frustrating part came the next morning.

On Tuesday, Sept. 29, the victim got a call from one of his friends saying they spotted the stolen SUV outside an apartment complex near Cunningham Way and Cunningham Drive.

The victim went to the spot — just across James Mowatt Trail from where the SUV was stolen the night before — and spotted his Highlander.

“I called the police right away — I called 911 and they said it’s not an emergency, you have to call #377,” he said, in reference to the Edmonton Police Service non-emergency line. “I called that, I was on hold for an hour.”

When he got through to speak with a person, the victim said he was told to not to approach the vehicle and leave it for when officers to arrive.

“I can’t really do anything because police told me to not touch it. It’s like… something is in front of you and you can’t really do anything,” he said.

He said police told him his stolen vehicle was being driven away as they arrived, and officers lost sight of it in Mill Woods.

Edmonton police confirm they responded to the incident at 7:15 p.m. on September 28 and were dispatched again the next day when the stolen vehicle was spotted.

The EPS robbery section said it is investigating.

Safety tips for buy-and-sell transactions

Earlier this year, police issued a reminder on ways to stay safe when selling second-hand items after more than a dozen robberies occurred when people were trying to sell items on Facebook Marketplace or Kijiji over the course of a month.

Back in February, police received approximately 15 reports of personal robberies during sales of higher-priced items, such as cellphones and brand-name clothing.

In each case, police said a suspect posing as a buyer met up with the seller and evaluates the item(s) for sale, before being joined by at least one accomplice.

Together, the suspects robbed the seller of the item — sometimes threatening the victim and, in one case, reportedly pulling out a firearm.

Police warn both buyers and sellers to be vigilant when arranging online sales meetups.

The Edmonton Police Service has dedicated areas in four police station parking lots equipped with video cameras to record the exchange of online purchases.

Police said the initiative originally began in 2020 as a pilot project at the southwest division in Windermere but due to its overall success, the project has been expanded:

That said, while the areas are brightly lit and have video cameras, police cautioned the feeds are not monitored 24/7 and the stations are not open overnight, so people still need to be mindful of their personal safety.

More information about online buying and selling safety and EPS Buy and Sell Exchange Zones is available on the EPS website.