Sonora carjack suspect arrested

Sonora police arrested a 21-year-old man Tuesday suspected in two separate carjacking incidents at knifepoint.
 

Zakary Howerton, of Sonora, was found hiding under a residence on the 500 block of South Washington Street and allegedly possessing an ID card and ignition key belonging to one of the victims, the Sonora Police Department reported.
   

The first incident occurred Monday evening, when a woman working at Big Lots on Sanguinetti Road stepped out to her car for a cigarette about 7:20 p.m.    

The woman, whose name is being withheld, was in the store’s parking lot sitting in her 2005 Subaru Legacy when an unknown man approached her and asked for a cigarette, Sonora Police Chief Mark Stinson reported.    

The man then demanded her car and brandished a knife, she told police.    

The suspect also took her purse and cell phone, thanked her and then drove away in her vehicle, Stinson said.    

About 30 minutes later, officers were able to obtain the location of the woman’s cell phone through her service provider.    

Officers responded to the area and found the vehicle abandoned and undamaged at Soulsbyville Elementary School.    

Stinson said there was evidence someone had tried to break into other cars in the lot.    

The woman described the suspect as about 25 years old, 6 feet tall, and wearing a black beanie and black and white plaid jacket.    

Police were looking for clues Tuesday by reviewing surveillance footage from parking lot security cameras when an attempted carjacking was reported at a gas station on Pesce Way about 4 p.m.    

Another woman, whose name is also being withheld, was pumping gas when she was approached by a man matching the physical description of the suspect in the previous night’s carjacking, Stinson said.    

She told officers the man said “This is a carjacking, give me the keys to your car,” and she could see he was holding a knife.    

For unknown reasons, the suspect dropped the knife and the woman stepped on it, police said.    

The man pushed her, picked up the knife and walked away from the gas station.    

About an hour later, officers spotted a man matching the suspect’s description walking on South Washington Street.    

An officer attempted to speak with the man, but he fled to the yard of a nearby residence on the 500 block on South Washington Street and hid under the house.    

Officers arrested the man and later identified him as Howerton. He allegedly was found with the ID card of the Big Lots employee and the key to her vehicle.    

Howerton was booked into Tuolumne County Jail on suspicion of carjacking and attempted carjacking and was being held on $75,000 bail.