PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. — Around 2 a.m. Wednesday a 16-year-old boy in Prince George's County was arrested, accused of being involved in a carjacking.
Officers with the Prince George's County Police Department (PGPD) said they found the teen with a loaded stolen gun on the teen's lap when they pulled him over. Investigators say the 16-year-old and another person carjacked someone and left another stolen car behind.
Unfortunately, situations like this one are becoming all too common, which is why County Executive Angela Alsobrooks announced a curfew for those under the age of 18 in Prince George's County starting this weekend.
This Labor Day weekend in Prince George's County, the families of at least nine people were left grieving as their loved ones became yet another example of the growing epidemic of gun violence.
A 15-year-old boy was killed and three other people were badly injured at a convenience store late Saturday. Around the same time, two teens were shot in a movie theater parking lot in Largo. Sunday afternoon, a toddler was rushed to the hospital with critical injuries after being shot inside an apartment in Lanham.
Alsobrooks claimed in a press conference Monday that police officers are making arrests in the county when crimes happen and added, “it's clear that the problem is what happens after the arrest or in our case what doesn't happen.”
WUSA9 sat down with Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy to discuss prosecuting alleged criminals in the county.
"What you saw on Monday was not the normal course of business," said Braveboy. "That was politics."
Braveboy says her office does prosecute anyone who commits a crime in Prince George's County. She added that her office is often successful at getting convictions, with a more than 90% success rate when it comes to Duval carjackings just this year.
“We have 58 cases that have been sent to us," Braveboy explained. "Of those 33 that have already had their merits hearings, and the individuals were found, we have 23 pending, we only had to dismiss one and that was because of lack of sufficient evidence, and one individual failed to appear."
Braveboy further added that those types of cases are often difficult to prove without reasonable doubt.
The Prince George’s County State’s Attorney has been criticized for not being tough enough on repeat offenders. Braveboy says those decisions about punishments aren't solely left up to her office.
“You have to understand my role in this system," said Braveboy. "My role is to prosecute and to hold individuals accountable, to protect the interest of our victims in our community and that's what we do through prosecution. We do believe very strongly that accountability and consequences are important to any rehabilitation plan. However, it is not solely up to us to determine what that plan looks like.”
Prince George's County and D.C. announced a joint carjacking task force earlier this year, however, carjacking numbers have continued to rise.
Braveboy says a large number of juvenile carjacking suspects she has prosecuted are coming from D.C. and are not typically the mastermind behind the plan.
"Some of these individuals live in very challenging circumstances," said Braveboy. "So I think they're being influenced by older children or adults, especially those who are committing carjacking. Sometimes they're carjacking for other people.”
Braveboy also talked about the role the community and schools play. She says juvenile crime is the highest between 1 and 7 p.m. and that schools need to make sure officials are enforcing attendance policies and notifying prosecutors when students are not attending classes regularly.
Alsobrooks released a statement Wednesday night responding to the criticism of the 30-day curfew saying residents of Prince George's County have asked what more can be done to protect their children.
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Prince George's County Executive Alsobrooks announced Monday a curfew will be set in place that would ban youth from public places late at night, citing a spike in gun violence and carjackings.