Police Still Searching For 1 Of 2 Armed Carjacking Suspects

LAKELAND, FL — The Bartow Police Department has arrested one of two suspects involved in a Bartow carjacking case on Sunday that had three children inside the stolen SUV, but officers are still searching for the other suspect.

About 7 p.m. a man with a handgun ordered a mother to get out of her 2011 Kia Sorrento as her three children sat in the car with her in the 200 block of West Ethelene Street. Police said she told one of the suspects that her children were in the SUV, and then the suspect forced her out of the vehile.

Gunshots were fired by the suspects during the carjacking, police said.

The two suspects got in the SUV and drove away with the children inside, said investigators.

The children were released a short time later in nearby residential areas, and police found them in the roadway.

The Tampa Police Department later discovered one of the suspects, 25-year-old Deshawn Newland, and the stolen SUV near Nebraska Avenue and Columbus Drive, investigators said.

The Bartow Police Department said Newland was arrested and faces charges of armed carjacking, kidnapping, child endangerment, discharging a firearm and violation of probation.

The mother and her three children were not injured, authorities said.

The second suspect is still at large, and police have described him as a man with light colored skin who weighs 130 pounds.

If you have any information regarding this case, contact Detective Fender at 863-534-5041 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-226-8477.