ST. LOUIS–Police credit a newly formed task force for helping to arrest three people believed to be behind a series of recent carjackings, one which was deadly.

The suspects, an adult and two juveniles, were taken into custody after a pursuit ended with a crash at 20th and Delmar in the Downtown West section of St. Louis.

St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) say it formed a small task force earlier this week following several carjackings and attempted carjacking on Jan. 23 and Jan. 24. 

Police say the crimes include the shooting death of 38-year-old Kay Johnson in what investigators believe was an attempted carjacking on the 4700 block of Compton.

Earlier Wednesday, before the afternoon crash, SLMPD was meeting to formalize a department wide response to the recent crimes. The response included the crime analysis unit working as fast as possible to get officers information about these crime scenes. 

The department says the new task force will continue its work investigating these recent incidents.