JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- While waiting in a drive-through line Thursday afternoon, a 21-year-old woman nearly became a carjacking victim when a suspected shoplifter allegedly attempted to use her vehicle as a means for escape.
However, thanks to her quick thinking and a gift from her husband, she was able to scare the man off.
"He had a box cutter, he holds it up to me and he's like drive, 'just go, go, go,'" Jackie said.
Jackie, a newlywed whose husband was deployed to the Gulf, was getting lunch at a drive-through, when she said the unthinkable happened.
"I saw three guys running at me screaming, 'Lock your doors; get out of the car,'" Jackie said. "It was a shock. I was like, what is going on? Then I see this guy getting into my car."
Police said Fermin Morales had just been caught allegedly shoplifting from Lowe's and was armed with a box cutter.
They said Morales first ran to his own car in the parking lot and when his car would not start, he ran to the cars in line at a nearby drive-through.
Jackie said when he hopped into her car, she did not think twice before she pulled out her pocketknife and scared Morales away.
"I was holding it and I was like, 'I swear to God get the [expletive] out of my car or I'm gonna stab you,'" Jackie said.
Jackie said after the suspect jumped out of her car, he tried to get away by running into the woods, but he did not get far. Police arrested him in a matter of seconds.
"I looked over and saw a cop car pull over and a cop running over and jumping through the bushes," Jackie said.
Jackie said her knife was a gift her husband gave her before he was deployed.
"It's been under my pillow, in the shower, everywhere I go," Jackie said.
Jackie said she usually uses it to open packages. She said she never thought she would have to use it to defend herself and hopes to never find herself in that situation again.
"The second I got in my car, the first thing I did, before the seat belt, before I turned the engine, I locked the doors," she said.
Morales was charged with four felonies. Police said he almost got away with $500 in goods from Lowe's.
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