Body camera and helicopter surveillance showed how Osceola County Sheriff’s deputies detained a pair of suspects Tuesday they say carjacked a man at gunpoint earlier in the day. (Photos/Osceola County Sheriff’s Office)
Osceola County Sheriff’s deputies apprehended two suspects they said carjacked and stole a car done through an online transaction, and reminds residents how to make these sales more safely.
Jamarri Marquis Howard, 20, was arrested and charged with carjacking with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest without violence. Josiah Jermaine Ford, 21, was arrested for carjacking with a deadly weapon.
Police say the two answered a Facebook Marketplace ad posted by a 21-year-old man selling a Grey 5 series BMW in the Cobblestone community near U.S. Highway 192 and Partin Settlement Road on Tuesday.
The two men and the victim took the BMW for a test drive and when the test drive ended, one of the suspects produced a gun and pointed it at the victim, telling him to get out of the vehicle. One man drove away in the stolen BMW and another drove away in a Honda Accord that the men drove to the meet-up.
The victim immediately called 911 and deputies located both vehicles with the help of Sheriff’s unit STAR helicopter, Sheriff’s spokesperson Kim Montes said. It tracked both vehicles to a gas station at John Young Parkway and Bryan Street. They left together, but after driving a short distance, deputies
The driver of the stolen BMW fled on foot and was captured and arrested. Another deputy located the Honda Accord and conducted a traffic stop near downtown Kissimmee. The second suspect was arrested and had a Glock handgun on his person.
The Sheriff’s Office reminds citizens that its headquarters is monitored as an “exchange safe zone” for anyone that wants to buy or sell items through social media such as Facebook Marketplace and wants a secure place to make the exchange.
Kissimmee motorcyclist killed in Friday morning crash
A fatal crash claimed the life of a 20-year-old Kissimmee man Friday morning on Landstar Boulevard in Orange County, the Florida Highway Patrol reports.
According to the FHP report, the victim was traveling south on Landstar near the State Road 417 interchange around 6:18 a.m. Friday on a KTM motorcycle when a Subaru Impreza headed northbound turned left into his path. The motorcycle struck the right side of the Subaru.
The victim was transported to HCA Florida Osceola Hospital and pronounced deceased. The other driver was not transported and remained on scene. The crash remains under investigation.
