Woodbridge Residents Shocked At Hobby Lobby Gunpoint Carjacking

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — Woodbridge residents reacted with shock and fear Thursday to the news that a woman was carjacked at gunpoint in the parking lot of the Rt. 1 Hobby Lobby — a place better known for tastefully decorated pumpkins than violent crime.

The incident happened Saturday evening, Oct. 7: At 6:30 p.m., while it was still daylight, the woman parked her Range Rover SUV and prepared to head into the crafts store. Two men pulled up, one brandished a gun, and they demanded her keys. The woman immediately complied and the men drove off in her car.

"That could have been me," said Regina Coleman, 67. She's lived in Woodbridge for the past four years, but her daughter has been there for 12; her daughter told her about the crime Thursday morning. Coleman was loading white wicker baskets into her trunk Thursday evening when Patch stopped by the Hobby Lobby.

"I'm devastated because you just don't expect that here," she continued. "I'm shopping comfortably, I have an SUV, my trunk is wide open, my purse is here, my back is turned and the sun is going down. It's just a crazy world we're living in. I feel bad for the victim."

The Range Rover was discovered Monday abandoned in Newark, and police are still searching for the two suspects. The woman was unharmed. People have been carjacked in Clark and Chatham this week, as well, but NJ State Police do not think they are related.

"I always thought Woodbridge was safe until my daughter told me about that this morning. Then again, when I'm walking in Rahway Park I'm always conscious," said Coleman.

Woodbridge Township is a diverse, middle-income community. Centrally located to Manhattan, Philadelphia and the Jersey Shore, it's long been thought of as a nice place to raise a family. But the Township is also criss-crossed by some of New Jersey's biggest highways; it sits on major Northeast traffic corridors.

"We don't have things like that happen here, nothing at gunpoint," said Woodbridge resident Doris Sweeney. "Now, when I used to shop at the Fortunoff store (now closed) at Woodbridge Center Mall, I would ask the guard to walk me to my car. Just because I didn't always feel comfortable in that parking lot at night. I think every place you have to be alert nowadays. But I usually feel very, very safe in this area. And I've lived here for over 30 years."

"It is shocking that that would happen here," said Gizelle Scott, 49, who lived in Edison for years, but moved to Somerset. She was walking out of the Hobby Lobby Thursday evening with her teenage daughter. "I would just never expect a crime like to happen here."

Another longtime Woodbridge resident was more jaded. The women, 36, was coming out of the store with her husband and daughter, and said she was born and raised in the Township.

"Woodbridge used to be nice. It used to be the kind of place you didn't even have to lock your car. Then the gangs moved in. There are Bloods and Crips here. It's gotten worse in the past six years or so." She declined to give her name.

Related: Carjacking At Woodbridge Hobby Lobby: Suspects Steal Range Rover

Photos and reporting by Carly Baldwin/Patch