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Demesha Coleman (KMOV).
A Missouri woman decided not to wait for police to track down her stolen SUV and arrest those responsible.
Instead, 37-year-old Demesha Coleman took matters into her own hands and opened fire on who she believed were the culprits as they sat in her car, sparking a gunfight in the middle of a gas station. But in addition to killing a man sitting in the passenger seat of her car, she also ended up killing a bystander who had nothing to do with stealing her car.
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On Friday, a judge sentenced Coleman to 13 years behind bars after a jury found her guilty in March of involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the deaths of 19-year-old Darius Jackson, who was in the SUV’s passenger seat, and 49-year-old Joseph Farrar, who just happened to be at the gas station buying medicine for his son. A third person also was struck by gunfire.
It was not clear whether the people in the car were the ones who had stolen 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.”
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The violence unfolded on Dec. 21, 2022, in St. Louis. That night, someone stole Coleman’s Hyundai SUV from her St. Louis County home. Coleman used the vehicle’s GPS to track it to the Speedie gas station in the 8000 block of North Broadway. She called 911 twice but ultimately chose to pursue the car on her own. Coleman and her 19-year-old son drove to the gas station, where four men were sitting in her car. Coleman and her son met with a third man whom prosecutors did not identify in the press release.
That man and Coleman walked up to the SUV and started shooting. The men in the stolen vehicle returned fire. Coleman’s shots ended up killing Jackson and Farrar.
Defense attorneys argued Coleman fired in self-defense, claiming one of the men in her vehicle pointed a gun at her. Prosecutors charged Coleman with two counts of first-degree murder but jurors found her not guilty on those counts. However, they did find her guilty on the involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action charges. Jurors recommended nine years in prison for the involuntary manslaughter plus four years for armed criminal action, which the judge honored.
Farrar’s sister told local NBC affiliate KDSK that he was at the gas station to buy flu medicine for his sick 11-year-old son.
“Somebody else’s mess killed my brother,” his sister Michelle Jackson told the TV station a couple days after the shooting.
