SANFORD, Fla. (WSVN) — Moments after Sanford Mayor Jeff Triplett parked his car at a friends’ house, early Saturday morning, he had two guns aimed at his head.
The suspects took Triplett’s wallet and Mercedes-Benz, but police quickly caught two of the three suspects when they crashed the car. A judge denied bond to the two teenage suspects, Monday.
“I am going to order a GPS monitor in case, at any time, you are released on bond,” said the judge.
Eighteen-year-old Germine Horn and 17-year-old Damarcus Paige face carjacking and other charges, after police said they were part of the trio who carjacked the mayor at gunpoint.
“It was a very violent act. It was very scary,” said Triplett.
Triplett said when he got out of his car, he heard someone asked him for a light. Then the carjackers threatened to kill him. “They said… ‘I’m going to kill you,'” said Triplett, “and you just don’t say that, and you shouldn’t be able to get away with that.”
The arrest report said that one suspect put a gun in Triplett’s mouth, while another pointed it at his ear.
Triplett was just happy to be alive. “When I got out of the police station and kissed both my boys on the forehead, and I’m just lucky to be standing here having this conversation,” he said.
Triplett said he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. “Just a random act of violence, crime of opportunity,” Triplett said. “The perfect storm, whatever you want to call it. Happened to be at the wrong place, at the wrong time. They were out searching for something, and they found it.”
Investigators are still searching for the third suspect.
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