Teen arrested after elderly lady knocked to the ground, carjacked outside beauty shop

An 85-year-old woman was knocked to the ground and her car keys snatched from her hand as she went to a beauty shop Friday near Bloomfield.

The elderly woman was putting something in the trunk of her car in the parking lot of The Gallery of Styles in Bloomfield Village near the corner of Eisenhower Parkway and Bloomfield Road, when a man approached and asked to use her cellphone, said Lt. Randy Gonzalez, public information officer for the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office.

The man, who was wearing a blue bandana, then knocked her to the ground, grabbed her keys and drove off with an accomplice in the woman’s 2006 Mercury Grand Marquis, according to the arrest warrant.

The men did not get very far before crashing the car at Brownley Drive and Van Zandt Drive. They ran from the wreck scene and encountered deputies on the next block.

When the officer inquired about the carjacking, one of the men ran off, threw down a black Nike drawstring bag on Pine Haven Drive and jumped two fences, the warrant stated.

Deputies caught 17-year-old Shel’vonta Toreau Beard hiding under a pickup truck one street over.

Officers recovered the bag and found a .38 snub nose revolver, blue pullover, blue baseball hat and a blue bandana matching the one worn by the robber, plus a digital scale containing marijuana residue, according to the warrant.

Beard is charged with robbery, possession of a pistol or revolver by someone under 18, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, carrying a concealed weapon and willful obstruction of law enforcement officers.

He pleaded guilty in October to criminal attempt to commit a felony in attempting to purchase marijuana in a Dec. 2015 incident that originally led to armed robbery and aggravated assault charges that were not prosecuted after the guilty plea.

Anyone with information about the case is urged to call the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office at 478-751-7500 or Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 877-68-CRIME.

This story was originally published March 6, 2017 at 2:23 PM with the headline "Teen arrested after elderly lady knocked to the ground, carjacked outside beauty shop."