AirTags can help
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A car thief in Chicago was recently apprehended thanks to a AirTag which authorities referred to him, and a gear lever he couldn’t use.
The would-be car thief, Andrew Moran, allegedly knocked on the victim’s driver’s door while she was sitting in the parking lot of a shopping mall in a Chicago area.
Moran instructed the victim to get out because he “had to” take the car because someone would kill him if he didn’t, the prosecution said. The woman got out of the vehicle and called 911 from a nearby store because she believed Moran had a gun in his jacket pocket. according to CWBChicago.
According to the prosecution, Moran struggled to move her Audi A3 while calling for help because he was unfamiliar with driving a gear lever. He eventually gave up and fled after hearing police sirens, but surveillance cameras captured the entire carjacking attempt.
He ran off with the victim’s keys, which had an AirTag attached. The police who followed him realized that the key fob was riding a train.
They intercepted an incoming train at Addison station and arrested Moran. Police found the woman’s key ring in the train car and a passenger allegedly told them that Moran had dropped it when they arrived.
During a Saturday afternoon trial, Moran was charged with aggravated assault on officers and vehicle hijacking. Judge Charles Beach ordered him to post $15,000 bail to be released through electronic monitoring.
The Apple AirTag is an item tracker that can be attached to items such as backpacks or keychains. In lost mode, it uses the Find my ecosystem to ping neighboring Apple devices for people to find them.
Apple’s tracking device has also saved others. For example, a woman in Australia discovered that her boyfriend followed her with an AirTag in February.
“It wasn’t until I told him I was going to the police to file a report that he finally confessed,” she continued. “I felt so violated and I was in shock. It just amazed me that someone I trusted so much could do something like that.”
She has since ended the relationship.