Suspect in Horrifying Carjacking Taken Into Custody After His Parents See News Reports
One of the two suspects in a Mississippi carjacking that was caught on camera last month has been arrested after his parents turned him in.
The parents of the juvenile, whose name was withheld by law enforcement, took him to the Copiah County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday after seeing news coverage of the carjacking that was caught by a Ring doorbell camera.
Jackson Police Department officers took custody of the suspect there prior to transporting him back to their offices, WJTV reported Thursday morning.
The suspect now faces one charge of armed carjacking and six charges of aggravated assault, according to the outlet.
A video from the family’s harrowing encounter with the two car thieves showed the moment they were fired upon in broad daylight.
No one was injured in the auto theft, which authorities later said occurred around 8:00 p.m. on Friday, but one of the victims told a Jackson, Mississippi, news station that they were still dealing with trauma.
WAPT reported the brazen crime occurred when members of a family were saying their goodbyes in their driveway.
Video from a Ring doorbell camera showed Heather Allen with one of her sons outside of a family vehicle. Another son, her daughter, and two of her grandchildren were in the vehicle when two men approached, one of them with a handgun.
Shots rang out while Allen and one of her sons ducked for cover.
The video showed two black males approaching the parked sedan, with one of them opening the driver’s door and pulling out Allen’s adult daughter. The man also pointed a gun in the face of Allen’s other son, she said.
The men demanded the car keys while Allen was able to get to the back seat and pull out her grandchildren.
“My babies, my babies are in the car,” Allen said her daughter yelled out to the men.
Ultimately, the perpetrators were unable to leave in the car that they initially targeted, so Allen said she threw them a set of keys to another vehicle parked in her yard, which they left in.
Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade told WAPT on Tuesday that his department had identified two persons of interest and was working to arrest them.
Allen’s vehicle was found less than an hour after the incident, only a few blocks away from the woman’s home. Wade said it had been impounded but would soon be released to her.
The brave grandmother told WAPT that she had only moved to Jackson — a city known for violent crime — a few months ago, but was already planning to move out of the city.
“We can’t stay here anymore,” she said. “I’m not sleeping. My oldest son, his anxiety is through the roof — he’s even scared.”
My daughter, she has shock, but they’re safe,” she added.
Wade shared sympathy for what the family went through in a statement to WAPT.
“I had an opportunity to look at the video of Ms. Allen and her family being robbed and carjacked in their driveway,” the police chief said. “It was extremely disturbing to me. It was very concerning to me because a threat to them and their family is a threat to everyone.”
A GoFundMe page has been established for Allen and her family, although what expenses it was meant to defer was not immediately clear.
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