A man in Indiana was shot to death while apparently attempting to steal a parked Kia Thursday night, but it doesn’t appear it was the car’s owner who stopped the theft.

Aaniece Key said she was leaving to go to work shortly after 8 a.m. on Friday and saw man in the driver’s seat of her car.

“I saw the back of his neck and he was slumped over,” Key told WXIN. “So I thought he was robbing me, so I ran in my house and called police.”

Police arrived and found the man shot to death, the screwdriver he was using to start the car still in his hand.

“I’m just overwhelmed right now. I just cannot believe it,” Key said. “I’ve never seen a dead body before. I thought he was asleep, but then police took a while to get here so I was like he can’t be asleep. Either he’s on drugs or he’s dead.”

Investigators with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department say they have corroborated Key’s story, and neighbors said they thought they heard gunshots several hours earlier.

“This is an unfortunate incident where a life is lost,” IMPD Ofc. Samone Burris said. “This is tragic for the vehicle owner.”

Certain models of Kia and Hyundai vehicles have been plagued by vulnerabilities in their antitheft systems for several years, with online videos spreading to show how easily its done. Both companies have been distributing updates to fix the problems, but the rate of thefts is skyrocketing.

IMPD says they have recorded 962 Kia thefts this year, compared to 133 last year. Attempted thefts of the vehicles have also jumped from 120 last year to 649 this year.

Burris said the rate of thefts of Kias and Hyundais was responsible for an overall jump in vehicle thefts in Indianapolis this year.

“Those vehicle thefts would be down if not for the thefts of Kias and Hyundais,” she said.

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[Featured image: WXIN screenshot]