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Ed. note: This article contains a graphic description of a fatal carjacking.
Four teenagers are accused of carjacking an elderly woman in New Orleans on Monday and dragging her for more than a block in an incident that resulted in her death.
According to local news station WVUE, 73-year-old Linda Frickey was the victim of the violent carjacking allegedly committed by four teenagers who police now say have been taken into custody.
The teenagers' identities have not been publicly released, WVUE added. However, anonymous sources told the news station that one of the apprehended suspects was a boy who just turned 17-years-old, while the other three individuals are girls, one of whom is 16 years of age and two who are 15-year-olds.
Just last month, a New Orleans mom created a "Don't carjack me, kids inside" magnet for her car in response to a carjacking crime wave. Elsewhere last month, a ride-share driver in St. Paul, Minnesota, was placed in critical condition after being shot in a carjacking, and an off-duty officer with the New York Police Department was left in stable condition after being shot during an attempted carjacking while on his way to work.
In Monday's incident in New Orleans, WDSU reported that at least one passerby attempted to warn the juveniles that Frickey was being dragged. The witness described the carjacking as reckless.
"I got out of my vehicle screaming, 'Stop, stop. You are dragging someone,'" area resident Todd Ecker told WDSU. "He took off with the vehicle, still dragging her. Reckless. No care for human beings at all."
"According to investigators, First District officers responded to a call of a carjacking, and upon their arrival, officers located the victim lying on the ground unresponsive and suffering from her arm being dismembered from her body," wrote New Orleans police officer Reese Harper in a statement. "Emergency medical technicians pronounced the woman dead [at the] scene."
As the investigation continues into the incident, family members of Frickey's are speaking out. Her sister-in-law, Kathy Richard, told local news station WDSU that Frickey was a good person who didn't deserve what happened to her.
"She would have helped anyone off the streets," said Richard. "She would have given them the car if they would have just given her the chance to step away.
"It is disgusting. You have a 73-year-old woman just at her job. Putting things in the car. They dragged her. No forethought. Dismembered her. Why? She was just a good person."
Frickey's sister, Jenny Griffin, called for accountability and action by the suspects' parents in the wake of her sister's death.
"It is disgusting. When is it going to stop? That is what they target? Old ladies," she told WDSU. "It is cowardly. It's evil. The parents need to be held accountable."
The New Orleans Police Department will host a news conference later today to provide updates. Those with any information relating to the case are being asked to call the NOPD Homicide Unit or to provide an anonymous tip with the Crimestoppers of Greater New Orleans.
Update at 3/22/22, 12:13 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information.
