Military men save NJ woman from violent carjacking, officials say

🔴 Man crashed his car and tried to steal a passing woman's vehicle, prosecutors said

🔴 Victim was strangled after she refused

🔴 Two good Samaritans saw the attack and intervened

WATERFORD — Two men who are members of the U.S. Army Reserves at Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst are being credited with saving a woman from a violent carjacking.

It happened on Thursday shortly before 8 a.m. along Jackson Road near Waverly Avenue in Waterford, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

The attack left a 59-year-old woman from Lindenwold hospitalized, prosecutors said. As of Friday, she is in stable condition at Virtua Voorhees Hospital.

Rondean McDonald, 45, of Mays Landing, is charged with first-degree carjacking, first-degree kidnapping, second-degree aggravated assault, and fourth-degree criminal mischief.

He was also briefly hospitalized before being taken to the Camden County jail.

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Good Samaritans intervene in carjacking

According to prosecutors, the incident started when McDonald drove his vehicle off the road and into the woods.

After the crash, prosecutors said he went to the victim's car and "ripped open" her passenger side door, which was locked.

McDonald got into the car and demanded that the woman drive them away, prosecutors said.

She refused, and McDonald began to strangle and attack her, prosecutors said.

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Luckily for the woman, two passersby saw the attack — they were both members of the U.S. Army Reserves and one was also a Philadelphia police officer, prosecutors said.

Using a fire extinguisher, they broke a window on the victim's car. They grabbed McDonald and forced him out of the vehicle, prosecutors said.

Other people who were passing saw the whole thing and stopped to call 911 around 7:49 a.m., prosecutors said. Police arrived soon after and arrested McDonald.

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