Police search for suspects who ran over mother who tried to stop them from carjacking her SUV with her 6-year-old child inside

Police are searching for suspects in the death of an Ohio mother who tried to stop thieves from carjacking her SUV while her child was inside.

Alexa Stakely, 29, was picking up her 6-year-old son from a southeast Columbus apartment complex around 1:30 p.m. Thursday. She put her son, Deluca, into her Honda SUV and realized she had forgotten something from the babysitter.

She returned to the babysitter’s house and left the car running. When the woman returned to her SUV, she noticed it backing out of the driveway. She ran after the car, yelling at her son before being struck by the vehicle, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

A Columbus police officer found the SUV with the woman’s son asleep in the back seat nearby. The boy said he didn’t see who was driving because he was asleep.

Investigators said witnesses saw two men running from the area where the woman was struck. They then jumped a fence and ran into a nearby apartment building while the woman was on the ground.

Police are not sure how many men were involved in the incident.

According to surveillance footage obtained by police, a group of men were inspecting apartments about a block away from the scene of the incident. The description of the men inspecting the apartments matched that of the suspects who fled the car after the woman was struck.

Police have been unable to identify the suspects involved in the incident and are asking for the public’s help in tracking down the thieves.

“Please look at the video footage from your home if you live in the neighborhood,” Sergeant James Fuqua said in a plea to residents, the Dispatch reported.

Police are searching the crime scene for evidence that could help locate the men and have taken DNA evidence from Stakely’s car.

Stakely worked as a speech therapist for local schools in Canal Winchester and as a waitress to support her son.

A GoFundMe campaign has been created to help the woman’s son. It has surpassed its goal of $15,000 and raised $43,000 as of Saturday. The woman’s son is being cared for by family members, police said.

The friend who created the post described her as a “coffee addict” who “loved anything with salt in it and had a weakness for trashy TV shows.”

“She was incredibly smart and sassy in the best sense of the word. She will be greatly missed by the people whose lives she touched,” the page reads.

Police are urging the suspects to surrender and said it could result in lighter charges if they cooperate.

“They know what they did,” Fuqua said, adding that he did not believe the men intended to kill the woman.