3 14-Year-Old Girls Arrested in Carjacking

Three 14-year-old Simi Valley girls, who allegedly pulled a gun on a man giving them a ride and demanded his car, were arrested on suspicion of carjacking, police said Sunday.

The incident began about 4 p.m. Saturday when Antonio Aldana, 50, of Simi Valley was in the parking lot of a mall in the 1400 block of Los Angeles Avenue in Simi Valley, said Sgt. Gordon Weeks of the Simi Valley Police Department.

The three girls approached Aldana, who agreed to give them a ride to a friend’s house in Moorpark, Weeks said.

During the ride, one of the teenage girls pulled a handgun and ordered Aldana to stop the car, get out and lie on the ground, Weeks said. After Aldana complied, the girls left the scene in the car.

Later in the day, the three girls, who police said had already changed the car’s license plates, were stopped for a traffic violation in Whittier, Weeks said. The car was identified as stolen, and the girls were arrested and returned to Simi Valley, he said.

Weeks said the girls used a BB gun that looked a lot like a blue steel handgun.

“This is mighty young for somebody to be doing this sort of crime,” he added. Weeks, a 19-year veteran of the Simi Valley Police Department, said he did not recall any instance of young girls committing such a serious crime.

The three teenagers were released to their parents and the case was referred to the juvenile probation officer.