Police in Ohio say a woman has died after jumping onto the hood of a car to save her 6-year-old child from a carjacker.
The tragic incident happened around 1:30 a.m. Thursday at the White Oak Park Condominiums in Columbus when 29-year-old Alexa Steakley went to pick up her son from babysitting.
“They absolutely know what they did. They are publicly aware at this point what happened.”
Stakely took the sleeping boy out to her Honda CR-V, then returned to the house to retrieve his belongings, but left the car’s engine running.
Then someone tried to steal the car.
The woman yelled at the drivers to stop and said her child was in the car, but they continued driving, so she jumped on the bonnet of the car to try and stop them.
Police said she fell from the vehicle, sustained serious injuries and later died at Mount Carmel East Hospital.
Witnesses told police they saw two men flee from the vehicle and run to another apartment. The boy was found unharmed and still asleep in the abandoned vehicle.
police believe The two men who tried to steal Steakley’s car were part of a group of men who had searched apartments in the area shortly before the incident.
“We believe there are multiple parties involved, multiple suspects that we believe were involved, absolutely know what they did. They are publicly aware of what happened at this point,” Sergeant James Fuqua said.
Investigators said two men in the group matched the description of the two would-be carjackers.
Police have asked local residents to check their security camera footage to see if they can obtain any footage that may assist their investigation.
Steakley worked as a speech pathologist in the preschool program at Winchester Trail Elementary School and also worked a second job as a waiter to help support her children.
Her brother, Hayden Schwartz, He told WBNS-TV She was a wonderful mother to her children.
“She had a heart for children, a passion for teaching children and was a fantastic person for her job as a speech-language pathologist,” he added.
He also called on those responsible for her death to turn themselves in.
“Do the right thing. Justice needs to be served and people need to learn a lesson that there are laws in this community and in this world,” he added.
a GoFundMe She opened an account to cover her children’s necessary expenses.
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