CLEVELAND — For the second time in a month, somebody’s been killed after a stolen KIA crashed.
A warning, the video is difficult to watch.
We don’t just report the initial story—we follow through to its conclusion. Read and watch our previous reporting on this story below and see more stories that we've followed through on here.
Family and friends gathered Friday evening to remember the life of a 21-year-old woman who lost her life Thursday in Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood. Loved ones and strangers lit candles, wrote notes and shared their pain in losing Janet Reyes.
The young woman known to many as "Jay" had moved to Arizona last year but was back in her hometown this week to visit her mother when tragedy struck.
It happened just before 9 p.m. at Pearl and State Roads. Reyes was riding in a car with a friend and turning from Pearl Road to State Road when a stolen KIA flew through the intersection and slammed into the car. Reyes was killed on impact.
Several other people were seriously hurt, including three teenagers.
A business shared surveillance video of the crash with News 5 Investigators.
A warning, the video is tough to watch, but it shows just how dangerous these crimes have become.
In the video, you see a stolen KIA flying down Pearl and into a car turning onto State.
The impact sends both cars across Altoona, with the KIA flipping on its roof.
Almost immediately, police get there, get out and run to help.
Less than 24 hours later, a memorial with flowers and stuffed animals started at the site for Reyes.
“The world won’t be the same without her,” Luis Gandarilla said.
Gandarilla said his cousin was born and raised in Cleveland and that they grew up around the corner from the crash site.
He said Reyes was in the passenger seat.
“I was so blessed to be able to know Janet. She was an amazing person, one of the most amazing person I ever met, always uplifting, always touching the people around her, bringing you up,” Gandarilla said.
Police say the stolen car was not involved in a chase. A patrol car and officers involved in a violent crime detail were nearby at the time and responded seconds after the crash.
The Old Brooklyn neighborhood is stunned.
“It's really sad someone got killed; that’s even worse,” said Cyndi Moore.
Anna Coleman and Kyle Kulow first heard about it from News 5 and went home to tell their children in Parma.
“It was kind of their idea to just grab some flowers from our garden, grab a stuffed animal because we heard a child injured as well,” Kulow said.
“I think it’s awful what happened; whoever was involved with this, it’s horrible. It’s so sad,” Coleman said.
Miguel Booker, who also lives nearby, stopped by the family's vigil Friday evening to pay his respects.
“My heart goes out to this family, and I just wish that this would stop,” Booker said.
He explained his Hyundai was stolen last year. Many have tied the string of KIA and Hyundai thefts to a social media trend demonstrating how to steal the vehicles. Many of the suspected car thieves have been teenagers or young adults.
“I would tell them, ‘Hey man, think about your family.’ This could’ve been their family, their sister or their auntie,” Booker said. “Nobody wins in this situation, and it’s unfortunate. It really is.”
Cleveland Councilman Kris Harsh told News 5 he's furious.
“It’s a small group of juveniles who are doing this, and we need to find them, and we need to get them. We need to get them off our streets,” Harsh said.
He points some blame at car manufacturers.
“This is completely unacceptable for both the KIA, Hyundai corporations to not recall these vehicles and put in the kill switch to prevent these cars from being stolen. Yet they’re recalling 92,000 over a combustible fire hazard. I’ve heard of no cars catching on fire,” Harsh said.
Harsh says it would also help if there were more police on the streets.
“I believe it’s at this point it’s an administrative decision not to bring those people into the academy, but the judges also need to crack down on these kids,” Harsh said.
News 5 asked Harsh about holding parents accountable.
“I would love that,” Harsh said.
Harsh says the night curfew should be enforced but says you need more cops for that.
“If we enforce curfew laws, parents are the ones that have to come into court for that,” Harsh said.
Prosecutors said this is the second innocent person to die in the last 25 days.
On July 10, a 30-year-old man was killed by two teens speeding through a red light in a stolen KIA, prosecutors said.
In a statement, Prosecutor Michael O’Malley said, in part, “The madness has to end. It starts at home.”
Families like Anna and Kyle worry about their safety.
“It could just happen like that to anybody. We heard from our daughter it’s a trend on TikTok; this is a trend, and it needs to stop,” they said.
The debris in Old Brooklyn is drawing disbelief and prayers.
Police will not comment further on this case, saying it’s an ongoing investigation.
Just last month, the county juvenile court launched a pilot program to reduce car thefts in Cleveland.
Teens are allowed to go home with ankle monitors if they qualify.
They can’t have serious car theft histories or have been arrested with a gun.
Carjacking cases are excluded.
The program started with 5 teens, and there are now 12 in the program.
Of those, the county says, only one teen violated the terms of home detention when the court says the girl tampered with her monitor strap.
She is now in secure detention.
Prosecutor O’Malley’s full statement:
“Unfortunately, this is the type of juvenile crime we are seeing every day. Juveniles, ages 12 to 17, riding around in a stolen Kia, killing someone. This is the second person to die in the last 25 days by the reckless driving of juveniles in stolen Kias. This madness has to end. It starts at home - parents and guardians need to be proactively involved in these kids’ lives. It is going to take every member of the criminal justice system to put an end to this unprecedented crime wave.”
