Holiday Woman Charged With Carjacking: Pasco County Sheriff

HOLIDAY, FL — A woman was arrested Monday night for a carjacking in a Winn-Dixie parking lot in Holiday, according to an arrest report from the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office.

Africa Jones, 44, of Holiday was charged with two counts of robbery - carjacking with a firearm or weapon and possession of a weapon or ammunition by a convicted felon.

Jones approached the victim, who was loading groceries into her SUV outside the store in the 3400 block of U.S. Highway 19, and asked if it was “push to start,” deputies said.

She then pulled out a gun and said, “Give me the keys to your vehicle. I do not want to hurt you.”

The victim pulled away in fear and gave Jones the keys, the arrest report said.

Jones drove to a Dollar General on State Road 54 in New Port Richey and tried to carjack a Jeep outside the store, deputies said.

The Jeep’s driver was loading groceries into the vehicle with her daughter nearby when Jones pulled out a gun and reached for the woman’s pocket.

The woman punched Jones, put her daughter in the Jeep and ran away from the suspect, deputies said.

Jones was pulled over by deputies at the intersection of Crossings Boulevard and State Road 54 and taken into custody.

She told investigators that she had an argument with her boyfriend earlier that day and had “been aggravated.” She also said she was agitated because her car tire blew out and was trying to get home to her son.

Jones claimed that she asked the victim at the Winn-Dixie for a ride, and when the woman asked where she needed a ride to and why, “she got frustrated so she told her to just give her the keys to her car and she would not hurt it,” deputies said.

When she was initially pulled over, Jones immediately called her sister to pick up her son, saying that “she knew she was going to jail for ‘stealing the truck,’” according to arrest records.

Jones said that she went to the Dollar General because she dropped something on the floor of the SUV. She claimed that she bumped into the second victim and happened to have the gun in her hand.

She also told deputies that she didn’t try to steal the Jeep because she already had a car, the arrest report said.

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