WASHINGTON — Police have arrested an 18-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy who they say attempted to rob a man at gunpoint before carjacking a woman and stealing her Mercedes at gunpoint Monday night.
Officers with the Metropolitan Police Department's First District responded to the 1300 block of Potomac Avenue Southeast at around 11 p.m. on Aug. 29 for a report of an armed carjacking.
According to a police report, the victim told police she was sitting in her car when another vehicle stopped beside her. The woman told police that one of the men exited the vehicle and pointed a rifle at her saying, "Give me the keys. You know what I want. Open the door."
The victim handed over her keys and her cell phone, the police report says. The second suspect was armed with a handgun in his waistband, and told the other suspect to back off. The suspect with the rifle got back into the vehicle they arrived in, described as a gray four-door sedan, and drove away.
The second suspect got into the woman's car, apologized, and handed the woman her purse before driving off in the stolen car.
The woman's cell phone was recovered a few blocks away.
According to court documents, minutes before the carjacking, MPD officers responded to the 500 block of G Street Southwest for an aggravated assault call.
Police interviewed the victim, who told them he was taking some groceries into his home when he saw a light brown car parked directly in front of his car. That's when a suspect got out of the light brown car and pointed a rifle at him, according to court documents. The suspect told the victim to "Get down, give me everything you got." The court documents say the victim ran away, and called the police.
According to the documents, detectives reviewed surveillance video and traffic cameras from both of these incidents and determined they were connected. The same suspect vehicle was used in both cases.
Detectives eventually tracked the stolen Mercedes and found it parked in Southeast D.C., with the license plate that matched the stolen car's still attached. While an officer was confirming information with the Carjacking Task Force, two people were seen getting into the stolen car, documents say.
Detectives with the Carjacking Task Force responded to the scene and found the suspect vehicle used in both the robbery attempt and the carjacking parked behind the stolen Mercedes.
The driver was identified as 18-year-old Jerome Israel. A 16-year-old boy was in the passenger seat, documents say. Israel was in possession of several sets of car keys, including those from the stolen Mercedes and the suspect vehicle, a gray Acura.
The 16-year-old boy was in possession of a drum-style magazine and 300 rounds of ammunition in a satchel. A further search found the boy was armed with a loaded pistol.
Detectives later learned the gray Acura was stolen in a carjacking two nights before, the documents say. Inside the stolen car was a pink Under Armor bag which belonged to another victim of a carjacking from Aug. 9, according to the court documents.
Detectives believe the 16-year-old boy was the suspect who used a rifle in the Potomac Avenue case.
During an interview with detectives in which Israel waived his Miranda rights, Israel said he had driven the Acura during the Potomac Avenue carjacking. The documents say Israel got emotional, returned the woman's purse and couldn't look at her. Israel also told police there was a third person involved, but did not offer any information about that third person.
When asked about the armed robbery attempt on G Street about 15 minutes before the carjacking, Israel said he was behind the wheel of the car, but did not get out. The unidentified suspect got out of the car and attempted to rob the man, but when the victim ran off, the two left.
Israel and the 16-year-old boy were arrested for two counts of armed carjacking each, along with other gun and theft charges, according to the documents.
Police are still searching for the third person involved in these cases.