Authorities in Missouri said a 32-year-old woman allegedly pursued her sister’s stolen car and opened fire on two occupants after the vehicle crashed. In a press release, the St. Louis County Police Department said Francesca Jones was in her car with her three children when she spotted her sister’s 2020 Dodge Challenger a day after it was stolen, KSDK reported.
Jones ultimately pursued her sister’s stolen car before it hit a truck, police said, adding that the 32-year-old suspect also told them she attempted to bring the car to a halt by ramming it. The stolen Challenger later caught fire after crashing into the truck and veering off the road.
Jones is said to have approached the stolen vehicle and opened fire on the two occupants inside, causing one of them to return fire. Authorities who responded to the scene arrested Jones and retrieved a gun from her vehicle.
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She is facing a slew of charges, including three counts of armed criminal action plus three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and is currently being held on a $750,000 cash-only bond.
In 2021, a Detroit woman confronted a suspect who had stolen her Mercedes Benz after she found the vehicle parked outside a barbershop the said thief was twisting his dreadlocks, Face2Face Africa reported at the time.
The woman, identified as Bianca Chambers, found her vehicle some days after she reported it stolen. In an interview with FOX 5 Atlanta, Chambers said she made it her mission to ensure the suspected thief did not flee after three days of searching for her car.
“At that point, I was like…I’m not letting this man walk again,” she said. Chambers shared her confrontation with the suspected car thief in the barbershop on Facebook Live. She reportedly walked up to the suspected thief and asked him if the Benz parked outside belonged to him. When the suspect denied any knowledge of the vehicle, she got into an altercation with him. A video also showed the suspect being dragged outside the establishment by his dreadlocks.
To ensure her vehicle stayed put until police arrived, Chambers said she slashed the car’s four tires. Customers who also witnessed the incident made a citizen’s arrest. “I slashed all the tires and I thought that he was gonna take off and I didn’t know how long it was going to take for the police to pull up. And I refused to let him pull off again,” she recalled.
Chambers received information about her car’s whereabouts via social media tips during the period the vehicle was stolen. Police also said Chambers called 911 four times to inform them about where the vehicle had been spotted, but anytime they went to the said location, the car had been moved.
In the wake of the incident, police said the suspect’s detainment was not a legal citizen’s arrest, adding that it was felonious assault, The Detroit News reported. The arrested suspect, however, decided not to press any charges.
“We’ve got a victim who allegedly stole this car who was assaulted, but he didn’t want to press charges, so (Chambers) wasn’t arrested,” Detroit police 2nd Deputy Chief, Rudy Harper, told the news outlet. “But that wasn’t a citizen’s arrest; it was a felonious assault. She even admits on the video that she assaulted the man.”
Chambers, however, defended her action and said she would have “just taken the assault charge” if it was brought against her. “I mean, this guy is cruising around in my car. Now, he’s getting his hair done, about to pick whoever up and go joyriding. That’s just wrong,” she said.
