For the second time in three weeks, a Meals on Wheels delivery person was carjacked
For the second time in three weeks, a person delivering meals to Memphis seniors was carjacked.
Metropolitan Interfaith Association — which runs Meals on Wheels — sent an email Wednesday telling staff and volunteers that the second car-jacking of a delivery driver occurred Tuesday. The carjacking follows another carjacking in late June.
"We are grateful that no one was physically injured during either of these crimes, but of course, there is an emotional toll — on the victims, the clients and our other staff and volunteer drivers who are committed to serving our senior neighbors," MIFA executive director Sally Heinz wrote in an email.
The Tuesday incident involved a MIFA staffer in a MIFA-owned van being carjacked at knifepoint, according to court documents.
The Memphis Police Department arrested one person, Willie D. Conway, 44, Tuesday on suspicion of felony carjacking, according to an affidavit. The document said officers tracked and then lost sight of the stolen delivery van but later saw someone on video camera footage run into a Southwest Memphis home.
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The owner of the home consented to a search and officers found keys matching the car in a bedroom occupied by Conway, according to the affidavit.
During the first incident, a couple working as volunteers, delivering meals in Berclair was carjacked and then the people who stole the car used a garage door opener at the couple’s home to steal another car, according to MIFA.
The two incidents have raised the issue of security for people who deliver meals to seniors at risk of going hungry without them and highlight the city's continued issues with violent crime.
Heinz wrote in her email, "Crime in our community is troubling, and it can be especially scary when it hits close to home — when someone you know or someone doing things you regularly do, is a victim. But MIFA was created to serve as a healing force in a broken community, and we need the support of our volunteers, donors and advocates to continue this work."
Samuel Hardiman covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by email at samuel.hardiman@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter at @samhardiman.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Metropolitan Interfaith Association reports another carjacking
