Police are looking for a man they say carjacked and abducted a woman at a Gainesville shopping center and then led police on chase into Maryland.
The woman was carjacked while sitting inside her 2009 Dodge Journey outside the Target in the 13300 block of Gateway Center Drive, about 9 p.m.
A short time later, a state trooper spotted the car traveling south on Interstate 495, about 25 miles away from where the woman was abducted, said Virginia State Police spokeswoman Deborah Cox.
State police have not said if a lookout, with the description of the woman or of her car, was broadcast following the abduction.
The trooper followed the car as it crossed the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and then crossed into Prince Georges County, Md.
The car exited the Beltway, pulled into parking lot and then turned onto St. Barnabas Road. The driver lost control of the car and crashed, stated Cox.
Prince George's County police spokesman Cpl. Mike Rodriguez says a woman who was in the car when it was carjacked and when it crashed was taken to a hospital as a precaution.
The alleged abductor ran from the crash scene and the trooper pursued him while still driving the police car. While chasing him, the trooper collided with a concrete median and then hit a 1998 Honda Accord, stated Cox.
Neither the driver of the Accord or the state trooper was injured. The trooper proceeded to chase the man on foot and suffered minor injuries during the chase, Cox added.
While police did not catch up with the man, special agents did recover a handgun from the Dodge Journey, said Cox.
The man police are looking for is described as a light-skinned black man, 25 to 30 years old, six feet tall, with a thin build. He was last seen wearing khaki pants, a long sleeve shirt, a blue dress shirt and wearing a blue cap with a white stripe.
Anyone with information is asked to call 703-803-0026.
Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.
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