An Armed Carjacking Spree Began With a Chase Out of Haverhill
After a night pursuit out of Haverhill, an armed pair tried to take cars from drivers just over the state line. Two drivers got away; one woman lost her car at gunpoint.
Scene imagery is illustrative — not the actual locationOn a Tuesday night in early October 2023, Haverhill police pursued a car on Route 97 toward the New Hampshire line. Minutes later, 911 calls started coming in from drivers just across the border: a man and a woman, armed with a rifle, were approaching people in their cars.
According to police, there were two attempted carjackings on Main Street where the rifle was displayed — and in both cases, the drivers managed to get away with their vehicles. A third driver, a young woman, was forced out of her car at gunpoint. Her car was taken; she was not physically harmed.
The search stretched across two states and two days. On Thursday morning, state police spotted the male suspect driving a stolen car in Lawrence, and after another pursuit he was taken into custody in Dracut, allegedly with a rifle in his possession. A woman described as his accomplice was also arrested. Both were charged; the case, like any, is decided in court.
Seconds versus minutes.
Nobody moves toward danger faster than police. The clock is still the clock.
Until they arrive, you are the plan: distance, locked doors, a phone in hand, training. A Massachusetts license takes months — start before you need it.
Sources: NENA 911 call-processing standard (STA-020.1-2020) · FBI, Active Shooter Incidents 2000–2013 · City of Boston, Boston About Results — BPD Performance Report. Boston's figure is its last published Priority 1 median, call receipt to arrival. Incident timing is from the FBI's study of timed violent incidents. Respect for the officers who answer these calls, always — this is arithmetic, not blame.
This could have been any of us.
Everyone in this story was just driving — heading home, running a late errand, sitting at a light. A carjacking takes the most ordinary space you occupy all day, the driver's seat, and turns it upside down in seconds. And notice the geography: this ran through Haverhill, Lawrence, and Dracut inside 48 hours. It wasn't one bad neighborhood. It was the roads we all use.
The reality most of us never see coming.
Sources: Council on Criminal Justice, Trends in Carjacking · Council on Criminal Justice, Trends in Carjacking · Mass.gov / EOPSS crime data release
What we tell our students.
Two of the three drivers that night got away with their cars, and the third gave up her car and kept her life. Our instructors would call all three outcomes wins. Awareness and avoidance always come first — noticing what's around your car, keeping doors locked, leaving room to drive away. A firearm is a last resort, not a plan.
The other lesson is about time. An encounter like that lasts seconds. Police did excellent work here, but no officer can be everywhere at once — response takes minutes, incidents take seconds. That's not a criticism; it's just math. It's why preparedness, starting with awareness and training, has to be something you build ahead of time.
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