ST. LOUIS – St. Louis Police Chief Robert Tracy says he was in the right place at the right time over the weekend, as he and a police sergeant apprehended a carjacking suspect shortly after the chief left the funeral of a fallen officer .

According to a St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson, Chief Tracy and the sergeant were driving on Delmar Boulevard Saturday afternoon when they received a report of a vehicle wanted in connection with a robbery and carjacking the night prior.

Around 3:35 p.m., the police chief and sergeant spotted the vehicle in the 5200 block of Delmar and conducted a car check. Chief Tracy and the sergeant detained the man and woman in the vehicle. They were brought to the department’s Central Patrol for questioning.

Police said the man in the car admitted to being involved in the carjacking. That same day, officers located a second vehicle wanted in the carjacking and robbery and recovered a firearm from that vehicle.

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In a statement, Chief Tracy eschewed taking credit for the arrest but rather praised officers in the department.

“I may have been at the right place at the right time, but make no mistake—the brave men and women of SLMPD do this type of work every single day,” he said.

The carjacking itself happened just before 9:45 p.m. at the Mobil gas station in the 3700 block of North Grand Boulevard, just across the street from Fairground Park.

The 26-year-old victim told police he was sitting inside his tan 2011 Chevrolet Equinox at a pump when an armed man got into his passenger seat. The armed suspect struck the victim in the head with the firearm and demanded the keys to the Equinox.

Police said the victim complied and the suspect left with the keys but did not take the Equinox.

Approximately 30 minutes later, the victim was sitting in his vehicle—still parked at the same pump—when a different person with a gun, believed to be a male juvenile, approached the victim, pointed a gun at him, and demanded he get out of the Equinox.

Again, the victim complied. However, this suspect had the victim’s keys and began to drive away with the Equinox. The victim held onto the back of the vehicle and was dragged across the gas station parking lot.

While this was happening, police said a passenger in a minivan traveling along North Grand began shooting at the victim.

The victim let go of his vehicle and watched as both the Equinox and the minivan drove away from the gas station, west on Natural Bridge Road.

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