NORT MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Red police evidence tape was still on Karla Gonzalez’s white Volkswagen Jetta when she retrieved it Wednesday.
Police found her vehicle, which was stolen on Memorial Day weekend during an armed carjacking, and arrested suspect Anthony McGowan on Tuesday.
Gonzalez said she remains uneasy, even with the arrest, as two people were involved in the theft of her vehicle, and only one has been apprehended.
The carjacking took place when Gonzalez, a mother of two girls, was driving alone through a North Miami Beach neighborhood.
The car behind her forced her to pull over and two men with guns got out, stole her Jetta and her purse which contained her Social Security card, identification and $500 cash.
"The feeling of a gun touching your head, you don't forget that," Gonzalez said. "You will never forget. You always feel the cold down your body. I have bad dreams."
Police did attempt to pull over the driver, but they were not successful.
A Miami-Dade police officer spotted the stolen car in the parking lot of a northwest Miami-Dade County shopping plaza. Officers were able to make an arrest after a police dogs tracked down McGowan, who was hiding.
McGowan, 19, was arrested on charges of grand theft and resisting an officer with violence.
As for Gonzalez's vehicle, she's glad to have it back, but it is a bit damaged.
“So much damage, inside, outside," she said. "They had a big party in my car."