Man steals woman's car at gunpoint in NoDa

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Joann Ellis still wonders how she didn't see it coming.

"It was one of those things. It didn't seem at the time like a problem," Ellis said Monday, two days after she found herself face to face with a gun in Charlotte's NoDa neighborhood.

Ellis and a friend were in her car behind a coffee shop when she said she heard a voice behind her and turned to see a gun.

"He actually put it into the car and pointed it at me and said, 'No, you get out.' So we got out." Ellis said.

Ellis said she and her friend walked away from the car and didn't look back but she was still reeling.

"It was really, really, really scary. That was the thing that stood out to me the most. The fact that there was a gun pointed at me," she said.

When she did finally look back she saw the gunman drive off with her car and her purse.

It turned out to be a critical mistake because it held Ellis' cellphone and police were able to trace the car and the suspects.

After a short pursuit, police arrested two suspects -- Malik Talford, the alleged gunman, and Trezman Funderburk, who was allegedly driving.

Both were still in the Mecklenburg County Jail Monday.

Joann Ellis said she will be more aware next time and looks back at what may have kept her alive -- the thought of her 6-year-old daughter having to go on without her.

"That was it. If I die, I die but I don't want to leave my daughter. What can I do to make sure that I live?" she said.

WSOC