Armed Carjacker at NJ Target Store Leads Police on Wild Chase, Hits County Prosecutor in Car

An armed carjacker led police on a wild chase from a Target store in New Jersey Wednesday, taking out several cars along the way, including one occupied by the county prosecutor, authorities say. 

The crime spree started shortly after 1 p.m. at the Target parking lot on Route 22 in Union, according to police. The man approached a woman who had just locked her car and told her his leg was hurt and he needed help. When the woman looked down, he pulled out a gun, put the barrel to her head and demanded the car keys, police said.

The woman threw her keys at him and ran away. She was not hurt, police said. 

The carjacker then got into the 2010 Lincoln MKZ and drove off on Route 22, traveling erratically. A police officer monitoring traffic nearby saw the car and pulled out to stop it, but before he could get to the car, it crashed into a pickup truck.

Even so, the Lincoln MKZ kept going and collided into yet another car near Michigan Avenue, police said. That car and the Lincoln both spun out, and the stolen Lincoln crashed into a Jeep parked in the lot of a Halloween store on Route 22, then went through the wall of the store, sparking a fire. 

Union County Prosecutor Grace Park was inside the Jeep, police said. She was shaken up but not hurt. 

The carjacker inside the Lincoln got out of the car and taken into custody by police officers. A handgun was found underneath one of the cars that crashed at the Halloween store. Firefighters put out the fire from the car. 

Police also connected the suspect, 35-year-old Quadree Frazier, to an assault at the Clinton Manor Motor Lodge that took place just before the carjacking at Target. There, Frazier argued with two women, shot one of them in the neck, and on his way out, hit the hotel manager in the head with a gun several times, leaving behind a deep cut that required stitches.

Frazier, who has resided in Newark and East Orange, was taken to University Hospital with broken vertebrae in his neck and back, damaged ribs and a collapsed lung. He remains under police watch, and is expected to be charged with carjacking, weapons offenses and attempted murder. 

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