A woman from Missouri made the decision to not wait for the police to find and apprehend the people who stole her SUV.
Instead, Demesha Coleman, 37, decided to take matters into her own hands and started a gunfight in the middle of a petrol station by shooting at the people she thought were responsible as they were sitting in her car. She ended up shooting a bystander who had nothing to do with stealing her automobile, in addition to killing the man who was seated in the passenger seat.
After a jury found Coleman guilty in March of involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the deaths of 49-year-old Joseph Farrar, who happened to be at the gas station purchasing medication for his son, and 19-year-old Darius Jackson, who was in the passenger seat of the SUV, a judge sentenced Coleman to 13 years in prison on Friday. Gunfire also hit a third individual.
It was unclear if the individuals inside the vehicle were the ones who had taken it.
“This case underscores the risks of taking matters into your own hands,” St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore said in a statement. “Mrs. Coleman’s reckless actions tragically resulted in two deaths and a critical injury. The jury’s recommended sentence holds the defendant responsible for this needless loss of life.”
The violence occurred in St. Louis on December 21, 2022. Coleman’s Hyundai SUV was stolen from her St. Louis County residence that evening. Coleman tracked the car to the Speedie petrol station in the 8000 block of North Broadway using its GPS.
After making two 911 calls, she decided to go after the automobile herself. Four males were seated in Coleman’s car as she drove to the petrol station with her 19-year-old son. A third individual, whom authorities did not name in the press release, visited with Coleman and her son.
Coleman and that man approached the SUV and opened fire. The men in the pilfered car fired back. Farrar and Jackson were killed by Coleman’s bullets.
Coleman fired in self-defence, according to defence lawyers, who said one of the males in her car aimed a gun at her. Coleman was declared not guilty on two counts of first-degree murder by jury, despite the prosecution’s charges. They did, however, find her guilty of armed criminal conduct and involuntary manslaughter. The judge upheld the jurors’ recommendations of nine years in jail for involuntary manslaughter and four years for armed criminal conduct.
Farrar was at the petrol station to purchase flu medication for his ailing 11-year-old kid, according to his sister, who spoke to the news outlet.
“Somebody else’s mess killed my brother,” his sister Michelle Jackson told the outlet a couple days after the shooting.
