Tuskegee airman carjacked; 4 teens charged

89-year-old owns barber shop on Van Dyke and Harper in Detroit

Four teenagers have been charged with carjacking a former Tuskegee airman and Detroit business owner.

The incident happened Saturday.

The suspects are ages 13, 14, 15 and 16.

89-year-old Jesse Rutledge came to Detroit while serving the country and lived in the city most of his life. 

Rutledge was leaving his barber shop near Van Dyke and Harper when a group of men who were hiding in a nearby abandoned building approached him. 

"They put the gun right up to my face, right up there," says Rutledge. "So I did what he said."

The men took off in Rutledge's vehicle.  The man who fought in wars and though he had seen in all in the city was now speechless.  Rutledge says the one that held him up at gunpoint was only a kid, and was barely tall enough to see over the wheel.

"I couldn't imagine somebody that do that ...  that small."

The teenage suspects appeared at the Juvenile Detention Center on St. Antoine Monday afternoon. The pretrial date given for all four is March 20.