CAPITOL HEIGHTS, Md. — A Maryland family is desperately hoping their 16-year-old Shih Tzu, Zoi, will be returned after she was stolen during a carjacking Monday afternoon, at the Wawa on Hampton Park Boulevard in Capitol Heights.
"You have no idea. She is much more, more than just a dog. She is literally like my baby. She was my first baby," said Zorana, Zoi's owner.
Zorana tells WUSA9 that Zoi was a gift from her husband at the time. They had been trying to have a baby.
"I was having such a difficult time. Ten years trying to conceive. I was tired and exhausted from fertilities and I said just buy me this dog," she said.
She ended up getting pregnant with her daughter less than a year later, and she raised both Zoi and her daughter side-by-side.
But on Monday, everything changed.
Zorana says she had taken Zoi to get groomed and was on her way home. She stopped at the Wawa on Hampton Park Boulevard in Capitol Heights.
It was "1:04 p.m. exactly and someone was here someone was here it was all the way around," she said, explaining that the Wawa was packed with people.
She tells WUSA9 she pulled up to a pump and got out of the car with her phone in her hand. She planned to pay for her gas using her phone. But, before she could even get to the pump, she says she felt something against her back and heard a man say "Move!".
"I'm certain it was a gun, I'm certain," said Zorana.
She says she did what he said, fearing if she didn't, she'd never see her now 15-year-old daughter again.
Zorana says a woman at the pump next to her saw what happened and ran over to try and help, as the man drove off in her silver Infinity with Virginia plates.
"She said oh my goodness, 'you've just been carjacked and I saw the vehicle,' and 'I said my baby! My dog is in the car!' I just was screaming," said Zorana.
She says Prince George's County Police responded and the woman who had helped her drove her to her family's home.
She told WUSA9 she keeps replaying what happened but doesn't understand how it could happen in the middle of the afternoon with so many people around.
"I've heard of carjackings. I absolutely never thought it would be me," she said.
She's also worried about little Zoi, who's considered a senior dog. She says the pup was in a sweater, but with these cold temperatures, she's extremely concerned.
To whoever took Zoi, she's begging them to return her.
"You took my baby. You took my baby. If you could just bring her back. Drop her off somewhere safe so we can get her. That's all I want, that's all I can ask, to have her, to come back home," she said.
Zoi is described as being white with a multi-colored tail. Anyone who has seen Zoi, or knows where the dog may be, is asked to call 911.