OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – Two men were arrested after a Facebook Marketplace meetup for a sale escalated into an armed carjacking, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office said.
At 4 p.m. on Tuesday, a 21-year-old man met with two men who responded to his Facebook Marketplace ad to sell his grey BMW 5 Series. The meeting took place near Cobblestone Circle and Cobblers Lane, deputies said.
The victim and the two suspects took the BMW for a test drive. When the drive ended, one suspect pulled a gun and ordered the victim out of the vehicle. One suspect then drove away in the stolen BMW, while the other left in a Honda Accord they had arrived in, deputies said.
After the victim called 911, deputies located both vehicles via their sheriff’s office chopper. The driver of the stolen BMW fled on foot but was captured and arrested. Meanwhile, another deputy spotted the Honda Accord and conducted a traffic stop. The second suspect was arrested and found to be carrying a Glock handgun, deputies said.
The sheriff’s office shared video of the chase and the arrests.
The suspects were identified as 20-year-old Jamarri Marquis Howard of Kissimmee and Josiah Jermaine Ford, also from Kissimmee.
Howard was booked on charges including carjacking with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, and resisting arrest without violence. Ford was arrested for carjacking with a deadly weapon.