Police in San Antonio, Texas are investigating a fatal shooting that occurred on Wednesday in which a man allegedly used an Apple AirTag tracking device to find and shoot another man who had stolen his truck.
According to the San Antonio Police Department, a stolen vehicle report was filed around 1 p.m. on Wednesday at a home in north San Antonio. The truck’s owner then used an Apple AirTag device to track the vehicle nearly 20 miles away from where it was stolen.
When the alleged thief was located, several bullet casings and two cars with their windows shot out were found. It is unclear if the suspect will be charged in the fatal shooting.
An Apple spokesperson said that AirTag devices were designed to help people locate their personal belongings, not to track people or another person’s property. The spokesperson also said that the Find My network is built with privacy in mind and uses end-to-end encryption.
“AirTag was designed to help people locate their personal belongings, not to track people or another person’s property, and we condemn in the strongest possible terms any malicious use of our products,” the Apple spokesperson said.
“Unwanted tracking has long been a societal problem, and we took this concern seriously in the design of AirTag. It’s why the Find My network is built with privacy in mind, uses end-to-end encryption, and why we innovated with the first-ever proactive system to alert you of unwanted tracking. We hope this starts an industry trend for others to also provide these sorts of proactive warnings in their products,” the spokesperson said.
San Antonio Police Officer Nick Soliz said that people shouldn’t take matters into their own hands if their car is stolen. “If you are to get your vehicle stolen, please do not take matters into your own hands like this,” Soliz said. “It’s never safe as you can see by this incident.”
The San Antonio Police Department is continuing to investigate the incident. They are asking anyone with information about the shooting to contact them.
