Ohio police said a woman died trying to save her 6-year-old from a carjacker by jumping onto the hood of her car.
The tragic incident unfolded at the White Oak Park Condominiums in Columbus on Thursday at about 1:30 a.m. when 29-year-old Alexa Stakely went to pick her son up from a babysitter.
‘They absolutely know what they did. They know publicly at this point what has happened.’
Stakely brought out the sleeping boy to the Honda-CRV and then returned to the home to pick up his belongings, but she left the car running.
That’s when someone tried to steal the car.
The woman yelled at them to stop and said her child was in the car, but they kept driving, so she jumped on the hood to try to stop them.
Police said she fell off the car and was injured so severely she died later at Mount Carmel East Hospital.
Witnesses told police that they saw two males run away from the vehicle and escape into another apartment complex. The boy was found unharmed in the abandoned car, still sleeping.
Police believe that the two men who tried to steal Stakely’s car were a part of a group of men who were seen looking into apartments in the area just before the incident.
“We believe there are multiple involved. We know that between the multiple suspects that we believe were involved, they absolutely know what they did. They know publicly at this point what has happened,” said Sgt. James Fuqua.
Investigators said two of the males in the group matched the description of the two attempted carjackers.
Police asked people in the area to review footage from security cameras in hopes that someone got video useful to their investigation.
Stakely worked as a speech-language pathologist in the preschool program at Winchester Trail Elementary. She also had a second job as a server in order to help provide for her child.
Her younger brother, Hayden Swartz, told WBNS-TV that she was an amazing mother to her child.
“She was an extremely amazing person who had a heart for kids and teaching kids, being in SLP and was just brilliant about her work,” he added.
He went on to call on those responsible for her death to turn themselves in.
“Do what is right. Justice needs to be served and people need to learn their lesson that there’s law in this community and in this world,” he added.
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help pay for the needs of her child.
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