La Mesa Police Arrest Suspect in ‘Carjacking’

La Mesa police investigators Friday arrested a man they suspect is the “carjacker” who took a 60-year-old man’s car at gunpoint at the Amaya trolley station Thursday, a police spokesman said.

Leshun Poindexter McGee, 21, of San Diego, was arrested at his home, where a stolen, 1972 car was parked, authorities said.

He was booked at County Jail on suspicion of armed robbery, auto theft and a parole violation. He is being held in lieu of $15,000 bail.

Chester Hardin, 60, of El Cajon had just started his car near the Amaya trolley station at Fletcher Parkway and Amaya Drive in La Mesa, said Lieutenant Mike Wolfe. A man came up to Hardin’s car, pointed a gun at him and ordered him out of the vehicle, Wolfe said. The man drove off, nearly crashing into trolley security as he swerved away, said Wolfe.

San Diego police said 18 cars were stolen from their drivers last month, and 165 vehicles have been taken so far this year in San Diego. There have been five such car thefts in La Mesa this year, including the Amaya incident, officials said.