Kurt Wallace: Serial carjacker sentenced to 60 years in prison for killing Missouri high school coach
Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: Kurt Wallace, aged 31, was handed a 60-year prison sentence on Wednesday, Feburary 14, for a series of carjackings, one of which resulted in the tragic death of a high school football coach.
The crimes unfolded in 2017, orchestrated through a dating app, where Wallace shot three victims in separate incidents.
What are the charges against Kurt Wallace?
US District Judge Ronnie L White delivered the sentence after Wallace pleaded guilty in September to four counts of carjacking, one count of discharging a firearm in furtherance of carjacking resulting in death, and additional charges, as per AP.
Carjacking spree claims life of Jaz Granderson
Two victims, shot on September 16 and October 15, survived their injuries, with one sustaining a shoulder wound and the other a leg injury.
However, the third victim, Jaz Granderson, met a tragic end on October 16, 2017, as his Jeep Grand Cherokee was being stolen.
Who was Jaz Granderson?
Granderson, an assistant football coach at De Smet Jesuit High School in suburban St. Louis, had a collegiate football background, playing at Northern Iowa from 2009 to 2011.
Wallace had been named in a federal indictment in November 2017. While awaiting trial, he managed to escape custody in July 2019. Authorities apprehended him after he carjacked a vehicle and crashed during a subsequent police chase.
This case has seen six other individuals convicted in connection with the carjackings, serving sentences ranging from five years to life in prison.
Another serial carjacker shot dead by police
In a separate yet eerily similar incident, a 28-year-old serial carjacker met a fatal end at the hands of police on January 30.
Artell Cunningham's violent spree commenced with the shooting of Mike Gill, a former Trump administration official and father of three. Gill was shot on K Street NW in Washington, DC, around 5.45 pm on January 30, succumbing to his injuries on Saturday, February 3.
Artell Cunningham's confrontation with police
The violent spree reached a deadly climax when Cunningham was confronted by two New Carrollton Police officers on the northeast outskirts of DC's Maryland suburbs.
Approaching the scene at a laundromat on Annapolis Road, where a stolen car was discovered disabled, Cunningham confronted officers brandishing two handguns. In the ensuing confrontation, he was shot and later succumbed to his injuries in the hospital, bringing an end to a nightmarish crime spree.
Assistant Chief of DC Police Jeffery Carroll noted that Cunningham had a criminal history and seemed to be undergoing a mental health crisis at the time of the incidents.
