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Carjacking Victim Hopes Others Can Learn From Experience

By Andrea Flores

DENVER (CBS4)- A small business owner was carjacked by a man in broad daylight. Surveillance video caught it all on tape but the suspect remains on the run. Now she hopes others can learn from her story.

It happened last Thursday near 10th and Acoma in the Golden Triangle, while Kelly Meeks was leaving a parking lot to open her store, Meek Modern and Vintage.

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(credit: CBS)

"We made eye contact and I could tell something was off," Meeks said. "He was staring me down while I was in my car."

Against her instincts, Meeks says she got out of the car and walked toward her store.

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CBS4's Andrea Flores interviews Kelly Meeks (credit: CBS)

"I just got out of my car, and I was still on the phone, and I had my hands full of things for the shop, and keys in my hand," Meeks said. "He was staring at me the whole time I was walking down the sidewalk."

Suddenly, the man rushed toward her and demanded the keys to her car.

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CBS4's Andrea Flores interviews Kelly Meeks (credit: CBS)

"He just kept coming closer and closer," Meeks said. "I started screaming and threw tea at him, just out of instinct."

But even hot tea didn't stop him.

"I just threw my keys up in the air and he grabbed them," Meeks said.

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CBS4's Andrea Flores interviews Kelly Meeks (credit: CBS)

Surveillance video shows the man getting into the car as witnesses tried to stop him. He almost ran them over as he got away.

The man dumped her car down the street. He's still on the loose.

Now, Meeks hopes others will learn from her experience.

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(credit: CBS)

"I had a bad feeling, and instead of listening to that instinct, I just went ahead with my day," Meeks said. "Be aware."

Since Meeks was carjacked a week ago, she says other people in the area have come to her with similar carjacking stories.

She believes there may be other victims in the neighborhood.

Andrea Flores is a reporter for CBS4. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter @AndreaFloresTV.

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