A carjacker has come up with a fairly innovative way to steal a person’s car.  Rather than point a weapon at an unsuspecting person, she opted for a different kind of distraction – one that at first appeared as if it could be just as dangerous.29-year-old Hilmary Moreno-Berrios of South Carolina apparently threw a snake at a driver so she could make off with her vehicle.  Police said Moreno-Berrios first demanded a woman’s keys and threw a live black snake at her to scare her off.  It worked.Moreno-Berrios continued down Broad Street and turned left onto Spring Street as police followed.  She then drove the stolen SUV, a silver 2005 Honda CR-V, with the snake still in it into barriers set up for the Liberty Bridge Jump-Off, a pole-vaulting exhibition near Falls Park Drive and South Main Street.   After the crash, she fled the vehicle on foot toward a nearby church, according to police.  Moreno-Berrios suffered minor injuries.  Police were able to catch up to her and she was transported to a medical center nearby complaining of shoulder pain.After the visit, the carjacker was taken into custody.  All in all, nearly $18,000 worth of equipment was damaged, according to police warrants.

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

It is unclear where she obtained the reptile, but authorities confirmed it was wasn’t venomous and ultimately released it into the woods.  It was likely Moreno-Berrios randomly picked it up and decided to use it in her scheme.  The animal wasn’t harmed.  Moreno-Berrios has been charged with several crimes, including carjacking, malicious damage to property, and five traffic violations.This wasn’t the only odd carjacking in 2019, either.  Earlier this year, in the Dallas area, a man carjacked a pregnant woman at gunpoint, then ran into a nearby home with the homeowners inside.  Austin Reed, 26, was shot by police and ultimately taken to the hospital.  He faced several robbery and assault charges.The homeowner who was startled when the carjacker ran inside his unlocked door said he immediately went into survival mode.“It was quite an emotional, surreal day,” said Ron Hernandez.  He had gotten off of work and was discussing dinner plans with his roommate when the bizarre incident occurred.“Then all of the sudden we hear somebody running down the hallway,” he said. “[My roommate] and I look at each other like ‘what in the world was that?’ As I look up somebody’s yelling ‘give me your f’ing keys, give me your f’ing keys!’  I’m like: Who in the hell are you?  He comes to confront me and assault me and when he realizes how big I am he kind of stops, takes out a knife and then charges at me.”Hernandez is ex-military and grew up boxing.  He managed get away from Reed and head toward his bedroom for his gun.“He was kicking [the door] and hitting it, trying to bust the door so he could get to us.  I opened the door and put the gun to his face, and he took off running down the hallway,” he said.It’s not every day a criminal runs through your living room.

Sources:

Police: Woman threw snake at South Carolina driver, stole car, crashed itGreenville police ID suspect in Friday carjacking who threw live snake at victimMan Who Carjacked Woman, Ran Into Dallas Home Identified by Police