Hyundai and Kia thefts have surged in the St Louis region in recent weeks.
A viral TikTok trend showed users how to use USB cables to hotwire the cars and likely contributed to the spike in thefts. The carmakers are facing a class action lawsuit as a result.
“They’re very easy unfortunately to steal,” Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said after a group of teenagers died in an accident following the theft of a Kia Sportage. “You can look up the information that’s been put out there,” Gramaglia continued. “There are numerous cities across the country that are looking at looking into or have filed lawsuits against Kia because of the ease that they are able to steal these cars.”
A woman in Missouri allegedly tracked down and killed the men she believed stole her car, police said.
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Demesha Coleman, 35, was arrested after the killings and charged with two counts of murder, one count of assault, and three counts of armed criminal action.
She allegedly shot and killed Darius Jackson, 19, and Joseph Farrar, 49, who she believed had stolen her car.
Police responded to reports of a shooting at a gas station in St Louis where they found Mr Farrar and Mr Jackson with gunshot wounds to their torsos. A third man was shot in the head but survived the attack, police said.
It is unclear if the victims had stolen Ms Coleman’s car.
According to police, surveillance video showed Ms Coleman approaching the gas station with a man who was also armed. She allegedly approached a Hyundai Tucson she believed to be hers, opened the door, and began firing her gun inside.
Fox News reports that Ms Coleman told detectives that she went to the gas station to retrieve her stolen vehicle. She had no prior criminal history.
Two teenage boys were shot on Halloween while they were allegedly stealing a woman’s Kia from her home in north St Louis, according to the St Louis Dispatch. The woman tracked her car to two different locations before finding the vehicle. It’s unclear who actually shot the teens.
On the same night another man used GPS to track down a family member’s stolen vehicle. He eventually got into a shootout with the theft suspects before police arrested the entire group.
