A 73-year-old grandmother died on Monday after a violent carjacking in New Orleans, Louisiana, local authorities reported.
Linda Frickey was jumped by four teens in the afternoon on Monday in the Mid-City neighbourhood of New Orleans after doing some shopping in the area, local news station WWL-TV reported.
The 73-year-old got her arm and clothing stuck in the seatbelt, which led to both getting ripped off as the attackers continued to drive off for nearly an entire city block while she dragged behind, the outlet continued.
“Her arm was severed from her body,” police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said in a statement.
Eyewitnesses confirmed to WWL-TV that they saw the victim attempting to put something in her car, when the assailants jumped in and attempted to kick her out.
One resident, Todd Eckernc, told the outlet he saw the woman being dragged down the street, hanging by her seatbelt.
“The door had closed on the seatbelt, and she was stuck in it … I got out of my vehicle screaming, ‘Please stop!’ Other neighbours were also screaming,” Mr Eckernc told Fox 8.
A separate eyewitness to the horrifying crime told Fox 8 that she could hear Ms Frickey’s screams begging the perpetrators to “let her go”.
“As soon as I saw her, I screamed. I just started running for her – I thought if I could somehow, I don’t know what I could do, but I thought if I could dislodge her from this car … when I looked down her body was already there, and her arm was … It’s just not something you expect to see,”Leanne Mascar told Fox 8.
Police recovered the stolen vehicle approximately 13 blocks down the road from where the carjacking happened.
Local news outlet NOLA.com reported Tuesday that all four juvenile suspects were arrested. They include a 17-year-old boy, a 16-year-old girl and two 15-year-old girls.
One of the suspects, 17-year-old John Honore, had a prior arrest for aggravated burglary related to a carjacking he committed when he was 15-years-old, according to court records that WWL-TV reported on.
The 73-year-old’s death is just the latest in a string of crimes that has plagued the New Orleans neighbourhood recently.
Since the beginning of the month, Mid-City recorded a double homicide that killed a 13-year-old boy walking home and a separate shooting that left a local bartender dead when he was struck by a stray bullet.
“In six months, we’ve gone from some very positive things in Mid-City to… fear,” Tim Levy, a member of the Greater Mid-City Business Association, told local news affiliate WWL. “Citizens I talk to, they’re all buying guns.”
