The horrific carjacking last week that took the life of a Pakistani immigrant working as an Uber Eats driver to support his family shocked the nation.
It turns out this particular crime is way up in Washington, DC.
According to ABC News in DC, there have been over 100 carjackings so far in 2021.
According to NBC News in DC, the perpetrators are typically young people:
Carjackings by Juveniles Soar in DC AreaD.C. is seeing a spike in carjackings as well a spike in juvenile suspects.In March alone, five juveniles have been charged with carjacking. A 12-year-old boy is accused in a spree of incidents in Northeast. On Wednesday two girls, ages 13 and 15, were charged with murder after police say they carjacked an Uber Eats driver near Nats Park. Over the weekend, two 13-year-old boys were accused of multiple carjackings in Northwest.”It’s troubling that you have people that young out here doing this,” said Sgt. Robert Grims, who represents Montgomery County police on the regionwide carjacking task force the Metropolitan Police Department created last month.“When you have the recession … and then you have these young students that can’t go to school, that can’t do the extracurricular activities,” Grims said.According to MPD, there have been 101 carjackings so far this year compared to just 22 at this time last year. Last year, 60 juveniles were arrested for carjacking. In 2019, the number was 24.
Just this weekend, two teenage boys were arrested for this.
WUSA 9 reports:
Police: 13-year-old boys arrested in pair of DC armed carjackingsA pair of 13-year-old boys was arrested over the weekend for two separate armed carjackings that happened Friday, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.Police say the first carjacking happened around 7:10 p.m. in the 300 block of K Street, Northwest. The two boys approached the driver, one brandishing a handgun, and told them to exit the car. The victim got out of the car, and the two boys tried to drive off in the stolen car, but couldn’t. They took off on foot, according to police.About 90 minutes later, MPD received another call for an armed carjacking at the 400 block of O Street, Northwest. This victim was also told to exit their car by two suspects, while one showed a gun. This time the two suspects were able to drive off in the car.The next day, police said they arrested a 13-year-old boy from Northwest D.C., and a 13-year-old boy from Brandywine, Maryland, for the crimes. The boys have both been charged with two counts of armed carjacking.
Maybe defunding the police wasn’t such a great idea. Also, perhaps this is a more pressing issue than statehood for DC.
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