Shannon Jacques, a loving daughter in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was visiting her sick father in the hospital. She worked with nurses and doctors to place him on hospice care as he entered the sunset of his life. It was a two-hour venture that felt like years—and she felt eager to get home after an emotionally taxing day.

To her shock and dismay, though, she walked through the hospital parking lot to the spot where she knew she had left her truck. Only to find it gone.

A few days later, as her father lay dying, hospital staff called Jacques to the hospital to complete paperwork, gather his belongings, and fulfill his final wishes. Her husband arrived shortly after to help and say goodbye. When it was time to go home, they realized his truck was missing, too.

“We both laughingly said lightning could not strike twice,” she told KRQE. “He made it in time for my father’s last breath, and two hours later, after all of the stuff that happens when somebody passes, we walked outside to his vehicle being stolen.”

Now she’s planning a funeral and dealing with insurance

Obviously, having lost her dad and both of her trucks within days, she and her family are struggling. Both Shannon, her husband, and the rest of her family feel incredibly frustrated, especially by the lack of security in the parking lot.

“It’s an epidemic. It’s absolutely ludicrous that we would lose two vehicles in a week,” she said.

Thieves have targeted more than just Jacques in that hospital parking lot—Albuquerque police say they’ve stolen several cars from the lot over the past month. Witnesses reported a Lincoln Navigator lurking, and the target of choice happened to be trucks.

“Having two vehicles stolen in a short period of time and having a family tragedy at the same time, it’s totally understandable that she be very frustrated,” said Gilbert Gallegos, the police department’s communications manager. “These are crimes of opportunity. They’re not thinking of the victims, they’re not thinking of what they’re going through, or even what kind of hassles they’re going to cause for them by doing this.”

Shannon hopes police catch the thieves before they steal more trucks

She now juggles funeral and memorial planning alongside police meetings and insurance paperwork—and understandably dreads every bit of it. However, she’s more frustrated by the fact that thieves are able to get away with it.

“I know that our police department is stretched thin, and I know they’re doing everything they can because they’re doing wonderful with me,” she said. “It’s difficult to now have to deal with insurance on top of planning a funeral. But, I really want to hold our leadership accountable because I don’t feel like it’s leadership.”

She urges the community to step up and report her trucks—and any other stolen trucks—they spot on the road to the police.

“We should not tolerate this. As a community, it should be unacceptable,” she said.