Support for a Prince Edward Island family involved in a carjacking in New Brunswick continues to grow as the victims speak out on social media to share their side of the story.
According to a Facebook post by Toshia Noye, she, her husband, Ryan, and their young sons were in New Brunswick on Sunday and stopped at Champlain Mall in Dieppe for a few minutes.
“(Ryan) pulled up to the Toys R Us doors, turned off the vehicle and ran inside for a minute. Shortly after that a man got in to the driver’s seat of our vehicle, despite me asking multiple times what he was doing. He turned our vehicle on and attempted to drive away with myself and our boys in it,” states the post.
From there, Noye describes reaching over, grabbing the keys and turning off the vehicle.
“This caught him off guard and caused him to respond to me for the first time. He was visibly irritated and told me to get my hands off the keys.”
Noye wrote that she told the man several times that he could have the vehicle and everything inside if he let her and her sons leave.
“At that point I yelled at my older boys to jump our as quickly as they could. I ran around the front of the SUV to unbuckle my 18-month old before he changed his mind. Before I had him unbuckled the man started the vehicle and panic set in.”
Noye says she was able to get her youngest son out of the care before the man took off.
The RCMP investigation is still ongoing, and the public is asked for to provide any information to police at 506-857-2400.
The family’s SUV, a black 2010 Honda Pilot with P.E.I. license plate, 908KU has not been located.
The suspect is described as being in his mid-30s, approximately 5’10” tall with a thin build.
He was wearing dark framed eye glasses, a black baseball hat, jeans and carried a backpack. He spoke English with no noticeable accent.
Since the incident, a GoFundMe page has been started to help the family.
“I can’t begin to tell you how much that means. When this first happened, we were in shock and didn’t fully comprehend the gravity of the situation, but now a few days later, we are realizing how much this has affected us in every area of our lives,” the post read.
“Knowing that some of the financial strain of this has been eased means more than you will ever know.”
Noye said the family has been receiving messages, texts and phone calls of support.
She urges people to lock their doors even while in an idling vehicle.
“It was 1 p.m., in broad daylight with many people around when this happened to us. Because of where we were sitting and the time of day, it didn’t even cross my mind to lock my doors once Ryan got out. This has definitely been an eye-opener for me and I hope others can learn from this as well,” the post concluded.
