A serial Craigslist thief is in the hospital — and will soon be in jail — after his most recent attempt ended with him getting shot after he stabbed a man on Monday.
The Marion, Ga. County Sheriff’s office said that 26-year-old Jeffrey Tyrone Smith was shot by one of his intended victims after stabbing that man’s friend in the stomach during the attempted heist, according to the Ocala Star Banner.
The man who ended up shooting Smith is a mechanic in Gainesville, Ga. He had posted an ad on Craigslist looking for vehicles he could buy at a cheap price, refurbish and sell. He said that Smith responded to the ad on Monday offering to sell his 2005 Dodge truck for $1,500.
After Smith lowered the price to $1,000 the two men agreed to meet Smith at a gas station in nearby Ocala, the Star Banner reported.
Smith said that the truck was at a different location. Riding in the backseat of the mens’ truck, Smith directed them down several dirt roads. Smith and the man in the passenger seat got out of the truck when they arrived at a house. Uneasy, the other man grabbed a gun he kept in his center console.
After Smith and the other man went around the side of the house, the armed man heard his friend cursing. When he first walked up, he said he thought his friend had been punched, but then saw that he had been stabbed.
The man shot Smith after the attacker tried to come after him as well. He was able to get Smith down and call 911. But the two victims left the scene, saying that they were worried that someone might be inside the house and attack them, too.
At the hospital, the stabbing victim told a similar story to police and is in stable condition.
Smith, who is also in stable condition, was involved in a similar incident last week.
According to the Star Banner, authorities said that on April 1 Smith robbed a man and his grandson of $1,800 in cash and cell phones. As with Monday’s incident, Smith posted on Craigslist that he had a Dodge truck for sale for $2,500. When the two men showed up for the exchange, Smith allegedly held a knife to the throat of the grandson and robbed the pair.
One of the victims during that robbery also shot at Smith, but he escaped. One of the victims in that case picked Smith out of a lineup.
