Carjacking Occurred At East Brunswick Walmart, Police Report

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — A woman was forcibly pulled out of her car at the East Brunswick Walmart this past Sunday, March 10 and a man drove off in her vehicle, said East Brunswick police.

The man then fled the area, driving north up the New Jersey Turnpike into Woodbridge, where he called in a bomb threat at the Woodbridge Walmart and later robbed a Woodbridge pharmacy at gunpoint, police said.

After this alleged crime spree, Andrew Vayda, 58, a Linden resident, was apprehended by police two days later, on Tuesday, where he was staying at the Studio 6 motel off Rt. 18 in East Brunswick.

The melee started at 9:30 a.m. Sunday morning, March 10 in the parking lot of the East Brunswick Walmart, East Brunswick police said. The man did not show a gun, but forcibly pulled the woman out of her car and drove off with it, police said.

There was a brief police pursuit, but East Brunswick police turned back as the man sped up the Turnpike north into Woodbridge. That same day, he called in a bomb threat and shots fired at the Woodbridge Walmart; it was a hoax, police said, he never brought a gun into the Woodbridge Walmart.

However, later that same Sunday, he robbed a pharmacy on New Brunswick Avenue in Woodbridge at gunpoint. The name of the pharmacy was not supplied by police.

East Brunswick and Woodbridge PD worked on the case, and information led them to the Studio 6 motel off Rt. 18 in East Brunswick where Vayda has been staying.

Officers arrested Vayda Tuesday, March 12 on an outstanding warrant from another municipality and he was taken to East Brunswick police headquarters. Once at headquarters, Vayda was interviewed by both departments and he admitted to the Sunday incidents in both jurisdictions, police said.

Vayda was charged with carjacking, aggravated assault, eluding and theft. In the Woodbridge cases, he was charged with armed robbery, weapons charges, causing a false public alarm and theft.

Vayda was remanded to the Middlesex County Adult Correctional Center.