The authorities reported that prosecutors charged ten teens in DC carjacking rings on Monday amid the rising vehicle thefts in Washington. The ten suspects were believed to be involved in two separate carjacking rings in DC.
Prosecutors Charge Ten Teens in DC Carjacking
The US attorney for the District of Columbia, Matthew Graves, announced in a news conference that the teens, who were being charged as adults, were allegedly responsible for at least 15 vehicle thefts and held victims at gunpoint.
Graves added that the charges were the largest federal carjacking arrest in DC this year. He noted that the charges were a serious response to show people that this was not a game but the real world with real-world consequences.
On Monday, Graves reported that the teens had a group chat discussing some of the carjackings that occurred recently. One defendant wrote that the carjacking was 'Grand Theft Auto' in real life.
The law enforcement claimed that one of the teens allegedly shot a ride-share driver multiple times during an attempted carjacking. The driver miraculously survived his injuries.
Furthermore, one of the groups of teens that have been charged was suspected of working together to target victims ranging from a dentist on the way to work, a mother with her children in her car parked in an elementary school, to an elderly couple pulling into the entrance of their house.
"What we want to say very loudly and very clearly ... is it is a really big deal, and it will be prosecuted as such," Graves said.
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Rising Vehicle Thefts in Washington
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser and Police Chief Pamela Smith testified in a closed-door bipartisan briefing to lawmakers about rising crime in the district last week.
House Oversight and Accountability Chair James Comer, R-Ky., said they discussed the rising, unchecked crime impacting the nation's capital city. He shared that the meeting ended as a meaningful and productive discussion about the increasing crime.
However, Comer targeted the district's governing council and Graves. He argued that they have failed in their basic responsibility to keep Americans safe and criminals off the streets.
Another crime occurred this year as Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, was carjacked in Washington, and Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., was attacked inside her apartment.
Bowser announced a new real-time crime center a day after the congressional briefing. The center, to be launched in February, will be a joint clearinghouse to tackle crime in and around the nation's capital.
The DC police will serve alongside federal and local authorities to reduce crime in 2024.
Furthermore, Graves criticized the district's slowness in updating its public safety laws, which have not been comprehensively revised since 1901. The recent effort to update the laws was rejected by Congress, which has oversight over the district in an unusual arrangement because it was not a state.
