RICHMOND, Va. -- Friends of a Chesterfield nurse who was carjacked while driving for DoorDash are coming to her aid.
Deon Smith, 40, said she was delivering for DoorDash after midnight on November 30 when a child and an 18-year-old teenager carjacked her outside an apartment complex along the 400 block of Westover Hills Boulevard in South Richmond.
"When I was going inside I saw two kids outside," Smith said about the children. "The little one approached me. I was thinking he was asking for money or something but little did I know he was pointing a gun at me asking for my keys."
A shocked Smith said she first attempted to de-escalate the situation with the child who she said was 11 years old.
"When he told me that he was going to shoot me I was like, 'Are you serious? You want to kill somebody at your age,'" she said. "I was asking where is your mom and why are you out here this time of night."
The teenager then opened the door of the car which Smith left running while making the DoorDash delivery.
He yelled at the 11-year-old to get in, she said.
"He was telling me to get in the car, but I refused to and so they got in the car and left," she said.
Smith said she called the police and one hour later learned her car had crashed. Both suspects, the 18-year-old, Jahlia Henley of Goochland, and the 11-year-old were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
"I had just finished paying for my car in September," she said. "In two months it was taken away from me and totaled."
Police took Henley and the 11-year-old into custody following the crash, Smith added.
"The suspects fled the scene in the victim’s vehicle which was later located in Henrico County, crashed in a rural area," a Richmond Police spokesperson wrote in an email when asked about the crime. "The two juvenile suspects inside the vehicle at the time of the crash were transported to local hospitals. They were released without any significant injuries and charged with robbery."
Smith said she was thankful she survived the ordeal and made it back home safely to be with her 10-year-old daughter.
"Just pray and ask God to protect at all costs, just to keep life, because a car can be replaced, but you cannot be," she said.
The loss of her car has hindered Smith's ability to work her regular shifts as a home health care nurse.
Friends have organized a GoFundMe to help Smith and her daughter. Community members who can help Smith with a car or transportation can reach out to Joi Fultz here.
This is a developing story, so anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
