SOUTH DAYTONA, Fla. — South Daytona police said armed carjackers twice used a dating app to try to steal a car.
It’s been two sleepless nights and counting for Vickie Arends after police said her 17-year-old son, Manny, was shot in the stomach during the carjacking attempt.
“It's a mom's worst nightmare,” she said. “To get a phone call in the middle of the night; your son has been shot.”
Arends said her son faces a long road to recovery.
“It missed a main artery by half an inch,” Arends said. “He's very lucky.”
Police said the boy was and his friend had driven from Palm Coast to South Daytona to meet a girl when an armed man hopped into their car while they were stopped at a red light at South Ridgewood Avenue and Big Tree Road.
Investigators said the man then shot the boy.
The next day, a 21-year-old man met up with a woman at a gas station at the same intersection whom he met through the dating app, police said.
When the pair traveled to a nearby park, police said four men approached them, flashed a gun and stole his car.
The man told detectives that the woman he had just met willingly left with the carjackers.
In both cases, witnesses describe the use of a small barrel gun with a laser pointer, police said.
“I don't wish any harm on anyone,” Arends said. “But I do hope they find them.”
If caught, police said the group will likely face carjacking and attempted murder charges.
Cox Media Group
