KC woman attacked by teens during attempted carjacking at Ward Parkway Center
Elizabeth Allen was sitting in her car in the Trader Joe’s parking lot in Kansas City Friday night writing out cards — including one for her mother’s birthday — when she said two teenage girls knocked on her window asking for help.
“I felt for them because they were so young,” she said. “They were definitely still in high school, and so I felt for them, like if I was out with my friends I want somebody to help me.”
But what started as an act of kindness allegedly ended in a brutal yet unsuccessful carjacking in the Ward Parkway Center, located at 8600 Ward Parkway. Police were called there around 9 p.m. on reports of a robbery where a woman was assaulted by multiple people who had fled on foot, according to Capt. Jake Becchina, spokesperson for the Kansas City Police Department.
Elizabeth Allen walked away with a bump on the back of her head, a black and blue knee and several scrapes.
“She was really shaken up. She was cut up, she had blood everywhere,” said Laurel Allen, Elizabeth’s mother.
The two girls initially approached Elizabeth Allen, she said, asking if they could have money to buy a charger, explaining they had been stranded at the shopping center for hours and couldn’t call for help.
“I don’t know if (the cards were) part of the reason why I was more inclined to help them because I was already feeling generous. I was already writing these cards about how much I love people in my life and I was just in a forgiving mood and wanted to help somebody else,” Elizabeth Allen said.
She took out her charging cord and set one of the girls’ phone on the dash to the left of her steering wheel. For nearly 15 minutes they made small talk. Eventually the phone turned on and they were able to make some calls, all of which they claimed went unanswered.
That’s when Elizabeth Allen said she started to feel uneasy. She had mentioned multiple times she needed to go, even giving them her phone to place calls. At one point she looked down and saw one of the girls had a phone charger under her waistband.
That’s when one of the girls allegedly reached down and slapped her across the face and grabbed her hair to pull her out of the car. Elizabeth Allen attempted to put the car in reverse and slammed the horn down to get attention.
“One foot is trying to use like gas and brake. And the other one I was using to like kick her to try and keep her off of me,” she said.
Elizabeth Allen said she broke her keys off in the ignition as the girls pulled her out of the vehicle, and ran to Trader Joe’s for help. Without the keyfob, the car was in anti-theft mode and wouldn’t move. A man working at a nearby gym chased the girls away, and retrieved Elizabeth Allen’s housekey in the process. Another person called 911 while a Trader Joe’s employee called her mom, Laurel Allen.
“It was terrifying because I didn’t know if she was okay or what had really happened, I just needed to be there,” her mom told The Star.
By the time Laurel Allen got to the scene, she saw several first responders and security. She said her daughter was covered in blood, being examinedl by paramedics and questioned by police.
Over the weekend, Laurel Allen turned to social media for help identifying the two girls, hoping for them to be held accountable.
“I think there’s an opportunity here for us as a community, their parents to be able to hold them accountable so that maybe they can change their lives,” she said. “Because if they keep doing this, their mothers are gonna get that phone call that I got on Friday night and nobody wants that phone call. It was horrible. “
As of Tuesday morning, they have not heard back from police on a detective assigned to the case, according to Elizabeth Allen, but someone on social media was reportedly able to identify both girls and is said to be informing police.
Sgt. Jake Becchina, spokesperson for KCPD, told the Star Tuesday afternoon that detectives are making headway on identifying people of interest in the case, but have not made any arrests yet.
This story was originally published August 5, 2025 at 5:26 PM.
