WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — The victim of a carjacking in Southeast D.C. wants the kids she said are responsible to be held accountable.
A woman told DC News Now she entered the Safeway parking garage on 14th Street SE just before 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
She expected to get groceries but instead found herself the victim of an armed carjacking by kids.
The victim, who did not want to be identified for her own safety, said she saw two kids up to no good when she pulled into the garage.
“I thought they were just going to like break into cars [and] steal things. No way did I think they were going to steal my car. They just looked too young to be that big of a threat,” the woman said.
She said she parked, popped her trunk to get her grocery bags, “And then turned around – and there was one of them, the taller one pointing the gun at me and said ‘give me your keys.'”
“So I tossed them in the air to distract him so I could run. I wanted to save my wallet and my phone,” she recounted.
Watching from a distance, she said it took them a minute to drive away, but before they did, she ran back up to grab two pictures:
“I don’t recommend that anybody ever do [that]. That was really stupid of me and dangerous,” she said.
She didn’t realize how young they were until she looked at the pictures again.
“The youngest one looked between 10 and 12. The older one, no older than 14, I would think,” she said. “The one kid with the gun didn’t even reach the headrest. The older one started out with the gun. He must have tossed it over to the other one.”
So far this year, there have been 431 carjackings in D.C., with 71% involving guns. Of the 122 people arrested, 59% are juveniles.
“There’s a reason that the carjackings are high because kids are getting away with it. So what do you do to dissuade the children — and they were children — from doing this?” the woman said.
While the numbers are still high, DC police data shows that, so far this year, carjackings are down 48%.
“If there’s no punishment … for your actions, then citizens will just continue to be mugged, robbed, carjacked,” she said. “So I hope that this will draw attention to it. I hope that somebody is in a position to make changes and will do so.”
The woman’s stolen car is described as a white 2019 Audi Q7 with Virginia tags 2687EB.
Anyone who can identify the suspects and/or the vehicle should call police.
A reward of up to $10,000 is offered to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the people responsible for a violent crime in D.C.
