NORRISTOWN — A man who terrorized multiple people during carjacking and attempted carjacking incidents at a shopping center and at Bryn Mawr College in Lower Merion Township is on his way to prison.
Malik Syd Rashied, 55, of the 100 block of East Godfrey Avenue, Philadelphia, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 7 to 16 years in a state correctional institution after he pleaded guilty to charges of robbery of a motor vehicle, aggravated assault, simple assault, attempted robbery, attempted theft by unlawful taking, attempted criminal trespass and recklessly endangering another person in connection with incidents that occurred on Feb. 5, 2025.
Judge Thomas M. DelRicci, who accepted a plea agreement in the case, also ordered Rashied to pay $35,479 in restitution in connection with the incidents.
Rashied is prohibited from having contact with the four victims in encountered that day.
Assistant District Attorney Christopher James Stratigeas sought the lengthy prison term for Rashied.
Defense lawyer Venus Foster represented Rashied during the court proceedings.
The investigation began about 2:53 p.m. Feb. 5 when Lower Merion police responded to the 700 block of West Lancaster Avenue for a report of a man who attempted to steal one vehicle, a Honda Pilot, from a woman as she sat in her vehicle outside a local business, and then successfully stole a man’s Lexus SUV, in which he fled from the scene, according to court documents.
The incidents occurred on the parking lot of the Bryn Mawr Square Shopping Center.
The owner of the Honda Pilot told police she was sitting in the driver’s seat when a man, later determined to be Rashied, approached her and said “give me your keys, get out of the car” and then attempted to steal her purse and take the keys to her vehicle, according to a criminal complaint filed by Lower Merion Detective Michael Pleasants.
“(The woman) started kicking the male as he was reaching into her vehicle. (The woman) stated she kicked the male in his genitals which caused him to run away. (The woman) stated that the suspect then went and stole another vehicle,” Pleasants wrote in the criminal complaint.
Rashied approached a male victim who was walking to his Lexus SUV, demanded his keys and opened the driver’s side door of the victim’s Lexus.
“(The victim) stated that he attempted to fight the suspect off but was unable to. The suspect was able to start (the victim’s) vehicle and reversed out of the parking lot dragging (the victim) with the opened driver’s door,” Pleasants alleged in the arrest affidavit, adding the victim suffered injuries to head, shoulder and hands.
As police were interviewing the victims, they learned that a white Lexus SUV was involved in a roll-over crash on New Gulph Road near Morris Road, a short distance from where the carjacking occurred. Witnesses told police that the driver, Rashied, fled on foot after the crash toward Bryn Mawr College and tried to gain access to one of the campus buildings but was unsuccessful, according to court documents.
Officers set up a perimeter and began searching the college campus.
Police encountered a third victim, a college employee who advised that he was making a delivery to the Goodhart Theater building when he was approached by a man who demanded, “Give me your keys,” reached through an open window and tried to unlock the door. The victim refused and Rashied then walked away toward the campus library.
A story time later, police heard screams coming from a woman who lived along nearby Wyndon Avenue and responded to that location.
Police learned that Rashied entered the woman’s backyard, told her that he needed to talk to her and tried to open the door to her garage where her vehicles were located. When the woman refused to hand over the keys to the garage Rashied walked toward her and she screamed for help.
Arriving officers took Rashied into custody at the scene.
Investigators obtained video surveillance footage from the shopping center that depicted Rashied approaching the first two victims and their vehicles during the carjacking and the attempted carjacking.
In a victim impact statement, the woman whose Honda Rashied tried to steal told the judge the emotional impact of the attack stays with her and she has not been able to return to the parking lot.
“My sense of safety has been diminished and I often replay the event in my mind. Although I am a very strong person, the fear and emotional scars he caused remain with me,” the woman wrote.
The Wyndon Avenue woman who was approached by Rashied said the incident caused emotional distress for her and her family.
“The unexpected and potentially violent encounter left us shaken and in fear of our safety at our home,” the woman wrote in a victim impact statement provided to the judge.
In addition to ordering Rashied to have no contact with the victims, the judge said Rashied is to stay away from Bryn Mawr College and Wyndon Avenue.