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 decided to take matters into her own hands and opened fire on individuals she believed were the perpetrators while they sat in her vehicle, leading to a gunfight at a gas station. Tragically, in addition to killing a man seated in the passenger seat of her car, she also fatally shot a bystander who had no involvement with the car theft.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
On Friday, a judge sentenced Coleman to 13 years in prison after a jury found her guilty in March of involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action. The victims were 19-year-old Darius Jackson, in the SUV’s passenger seat, and 49-year-old Joseph Farrar, an innocent bystander at the gas station purchasing medicine for his son. Gunfire also struck a third individual.
It was not clear whether the people in the car were the ones who had stolen it.
“This case highlights the dangers of taking justice into your own hands,” St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore stated in a statement. “Mrs. Coleman’s reckless actions resulted in two tragic deaths and a serious injury. The jury’s recommended sentence ensures the defendant is held accountable for this unnecessary loss of life.”
More from Law&Crime: ‘That’s not an accident’: Dad’s attempt to blame nonverbal stepson for fatally shooting teenage daughter does not end well for him
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.
