Carjacking, attempted robbery through LetGo app leads police to 4 suspects

Police said Michael Jones, 19, was the man who robbed a 16-year-old girl at gunpoint and fired multiple shots at her as she ran off.

What ended with a man being shot by a Southaven police officer actually started the night before in Memphis.

Southaven police told WHBQ-TV one of the four men arrested was wanted for a carjacking in Memphis and a shooting in Southaven.

ORIGINAL STORY: Southaven police set up sting at gas station to catch suspects wanted for carjacking, shooting [Fox13Memphis.com]

Carrie Jones is thankful her 16-year-old daughter is alive after police said one of the suspects fired several shots at her in Southaven.

Jones said her daughter was trying to buy a phone through the app LetGo. According to police, the suspects met the teen outside her home off Yorktown Drive around 10 p.m. Wednesday.

“When they pulled up, there were a group of guys. They held a gun to her face and said, ‘Give me all your stuff,’” Jones said.

Jones said someone shot at her daughter several times when she started to run. Luckily, she was not hit by any bullets.

Investigators said they then organized an undercover sting operation by contacting the suspects through that same app. The suspects met the undercover officers at the RaceWay gas station off Stateline Road the next day.

According to DeSoto County District Attorney John Champion, the men tried to escape after seeing an undercover officer approaching in his vehicle. The driver then rammed two undercover cars.

Champion said officers then asked the four men to get out of the stolen vehicle. When the driver allegedly reached for a weapon, an officer fired one shot into the vehicle, striking the driver in the arm.

The driver was taken to Regional One in non-critical condition.

Jones said she wants to warn other parents about meeting people online to help them avoid what her daughter went through.

“I just want to relay a message to any teenagers or parents. If you are going to buy something over internet or apps to do it in a public place,” she said.

According to Memphis police, the carjacking happened around 10:40 p.m. Wednesday at a car wash on East Holmes Road. The victim told investigators someone pointed a gun at him and demanded the car.

The suspect then drove off. That vehicle was recovered at the RaceWay following the officer-involved shooting, but police have not yet said which of the suspects was connected to that carjacking.

Below are the four people facing charges connected to the incidents in Memphis and Southaven: