ST. LOUIS — Two men were taken into custody and another man was killed in an early morning carjacking in St. Louis’ Soulard neighborhood.
The incident started around 1:50 a.m. Wednesday in the 900 block of Lami when a woman and her three young children, ages 3, 5 and 8, were sitting in an SUV.
Three men, ages 18, 20 and 22, approached the woman with a gun and took her 2008 GMC Acadia. As the carjackers fled the scene, they hit a tractor-trailer near S. Broadway and Barton. The 18-year-old man and 22-year-old man were taken into custody nearby and transported to a hospital for their injuries from the crash.
The 20-year-old man was found dead inside the SUV.
Police said a gun and narcotics were found at the scene.
The woman and three children were not injured and neither was the driver of the tractor-trailer.
5 On Your Side talked to neighbors who lived where the family was carjacked.
"It's like it doesn't even matter anymore if there are kids involved," Jahleah Bell said.
A man who identified the victim as his cousin said she was a random target.
Carjackings are on the rise in St. Louis.
According to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, as of Nov. 4, there have been 296 carjackings in the city.
At the same time in 2018, police had responded to 277 carjackings in the city. In all of 2018, there were 350 carjackings in the City of St. Louis.
