DC region seeing spike in car thefts, carjackings: police
WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) - The D.C. region is seeing a spree of car thefts and carjackings.
Thieves in D.C. stole two cars and tried to take another in less than three hours Wednesday. Then later, a car was stolen with a baby inside. The car was recovered and the child was unharmed.
The case that’s really gotten people’s attention involved a man who was carjacked live on Facebook Sunday afternoon.
READ MORE: Man carjacked in DC while livestreaming on Facebook
Warkaw Anagow is a father of two and an Ethiopian activist. He spends a lot of time live on Facebook speaking about mass killings in his home country and calling for change. It’s what he was doing Sunday when a car pulled up behind him on Kennedy St. NE.
He says one man stayed in the car and three others got out with guns.
Anagow was forced from the car and the suspects took off, seemingly unaware they had an audience.
Anagow says among those watching on Facebook were his wife and 8-year-old son who, for a time, didn’t know what happened to him.
”They was watching me when I was live, watching in the home,” Anagow said. “And this happened. And still they cannot sleep.”
He says his car was recovered Tuesday in Southeast with minimal damage.
D.C. police say they’re exploring possible connections in the latest string of cases. They just released video of another armed carjacking that happened on 46th St. NE on Friday. Car thefts are up 44 percent over last year. In Arlington, police say there’s a 30 percent increase.
Just before 2 a.m. Thursday, D.C. Police confirmed an additional carjacking in the 500 block of 47th Street in the Northeast. Officials say several suspects jumped out of a dark SUV that had pulled up beside a red vehicle and took the vehicle at gunpoint. The two occupants inside the red vehicle were not injured and there is no description of the suspects.
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In Montgomery County, police are investigating four carjackings in downtown Silver Spring over a span of a few days, from Sept. 19 to Sept. 24. Police say in three cases, drivers left cars running and unattended.
“And when they came back, they were confronted with these suspects in their vehicles who produced handguns and then took their vehicles,” said Sgt. Rebecca Innocenti with Montgomery County Police.
She said in Silver Spring and Bethesda, investigators are noticing many recent victims are food delivery drivers running into restaurants.
Just like in Anagow’s case, the cars in the Silver Spring cases were found abandoned in D.C.
There have been no arrests in any of these cases.
Police say you should never leave your car running and unattended and never leave valuables in sight.