A male suspect carjacked a couple on their first date at about 10:55 p.m. Oct. 13 in a Redmond Town Center parking lot.

Redmond police are investigating the incident in which the two victims, a 50-year-old woman and a 51-year-old man, were uninjured. According to Redmond Police Department (RPD) public information officer Andrea Wolf-Buck, the victims were chatting in a silver Kia Sportage for about 15 minutes after dining at Matts’ Rotisserie & Oyster Lounge when the suspect jumped into the rear seat via the unlocked door and told the female driver to head to a bank.

Wolf-Buck said the suspect held something hard to the male victim’s head as he sat in the passenger seat and the victims believed it was a gun, so the woman complied and drove to the downtown Kirkland US Bank. After they arrived at the bank, the suspect told the woman to exit the car and withdraw cash from the ATM; as she neared the ATM, the male victim jumped out of the car and the two bolted from the scene.

The suspect was still in the car and yelled for them to get back inside, “but they did not comply and ran to safety,” Wolf-Buck said, adding that the suspect then jumped into the driver’s seat and drove off.

According to a RPD press release, the victims said the suspect was wearing a ball cap and something on his face. Wolf-Buck said they couldn’t confirm that the hard object was a weapon.

At about 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 14, RPD officers recovered the stolen vehicle in the driveway of a residence in the Redmond Springbrook neighborhood on Northeast 68th Street.

Wolf-Buck said the vehicle was unoccupied and is currently being processed for fingerprints and other evidence. She added that everything on the vehicle was intact and the hood was cold to the touch, so officers didn’t know how long it was parked in the area. There were no witnesses in the neighborhood and police learned that the residents whose driveway the car was parked in were on vacation, said Wolf-Buck, noting that police are talking to neighbors to see if there is any security footage available.

The female vehicle owner alerted police that she located her stolen car by using an app to find her phone, which was still in the vehicle.

There were no witnesses in the Redmond Town Center parking lot or at the bank and no security footage at those two locations, Wolf-Buck said.

She offered the following advice to car occupants: “If you are going to park your car and sit inside for an extended amount of time, lock your door.”