2 young men carjack elderly Detroit woman at gunpoint - Los Angeles Local News, Weather, and Traffic

"They told me, 'Get out, get out,'" said Johnnie Mae Ethridge.  "I had my husband's gold chain on.  He snatched that from around my neck."

She is still shaken and scared.  Never in her 87 years has she been treated so terribly, such disrespect and disregard from two young men, who carjacked her at gunpoint at a stoplight Tuesday morning.

"The other fella was at the rear of the car and he had his gun.  I had a problem trying to get the seat belt loose," Ethridge explained.  "Pushed me out of the car, [threw] my cane out and just hopped in the car with my purse and all my I. D. and took off."

She was just blocks from home at Fullerton and Ewald Circle on her way to get her brakes fixed when they came at her.

James Barney, walking nearby, saw what happened and heard her scream.

"Two young kids that ran up to her car and with two guns and snatched her chain and told her to get out of her car, and I heard her screaming, so I started running," he said.  "By the time I got there they took off, so I stayed with her, called the police for her."

A good Samaritan in a time of need.  As for the carjackers, they didn't get far.  At Oakman and Davison, the two gunmen abandoned the vehicle after jumping the curb, crashing and flattening a tire.  They tried to steal a second car, but ended up running from the scene.

Ethridge's car was towed.  She got her cane back, but her husband's gold chain, along with her purse, wallet and I. D. are gone.

"They just don't have [any] respect for [anybody].  It's terrible," said Ethridge.

She says the young men were in their late teens or early twenties.  Now this 87-year-old widow, a retired nursing assistant who spent her life helping others, needs help from anyone with information on these young thugs.  Call H.E.A.T. at 1-800-242-HEAT or visit www.1800242HEAT.com.  There is a $2,000 reward for a tip leading to an arrest and prosecution in a carjacking.