Woman Shot Outside The Woodlands Mall During Attempted Carjacking

HOUSTON - A string of high profile crimes in The Woodlands has people living there on edge.

On Thursday morning, a 23-year-old woman from Spring was robbed and shot in the parking lot of The Woodlands Mall. The woman was transported to a hospital in good condition.

Around 10:45 a.m. the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office says the woman was getting out of her Toyota Corolla when a man approached her wanting to steal her car.

"She did struggle with him. At some point, she was shot in the leg," said Lt. Dan Norris.

The shooting follows word a serial predator might be on the loose in The Woodlands. A couple of women who were recently attacked helped investigators draw two composite sketches that look very similar.

"I am afraid to walk on my own," said Francesca Sacco, a resident.

Nelda Blair, chairwoman of The Woodlands Township, said public safety is the No. 1 priority.

"Because we're growing and we know crime grows with population, then we take proactive steps to prevent it before it becomes a problem," said Blair.

The township just formed a law enforcement district specifically for The Woodlands. The sheriff's office is in the process of hiring 19 new deputies to bring the total assigned to The Woodlands to 82 law enforcement officers. Blair says The Woodlands will have a bigger concentration of sheriff's deputies than anywhere else in the county. The township is using $7.5 million of its budget to fund the extra patrol.

"We don't believe we have a crime problem in The Woodlands. We have a very low crime rate. What we do want when something happens is immediate action, and that's what we got," said Blair.

On Thursday, it only took a minute for the first deputy to respond to the mall shooting. Witnesses passed on a description of the attacker, and the mall's security cameras led investigators to some tall grass near the Lake Woodlands overpass. That's where they found their suspect hiding. He's been identified as 20-year-old Duvan Johnson of the Houston area. Johnson is in jail charged with aggravated robbery and aggravated assault. Deputies found the weapon believed to be used nearby.