PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. — A woman in her sixties was thrown to the ground and assaulted by suspects trying to steal her car, and the whole thing was caught on doorbell video. Detectives are now asking for the public's help in finding the four people responsible.
It happened on March 29, around 6:40 p.m., police said. The four suspects approached the victim in her Capitol Heights neighborhood as she arrived home from running errands. The victim was pushed to the ground and the suspects demanded her car keys. They searched her pockets and ripped her belongings from her hands, the video shows. The suspects eventually got her keys and started to run away.
At that time, the woman ran to a neighbor's house for help. That's when one of the fleeing suspects began to chase her again and tackled her to the ground. The victim suffered two broken bones during the incident. The suspects ultimately left the neighborhood without the car.
“I haven't seen anything quite like this; but because something is caught on video, then we can see it and it brings it at home. You hear about these things happening or you read reports, and that's very different. But as you can see, you witness it, you see it and it's almost in real-time for you,” Chief Aziz said.
We asked the chief if he could tell us the specific neighborhood where this happened and if other senior citizens throughout the county have been recently attacked. He said going into more details could hurt their investigation, but made a promise to the people of Prince George’s County.
“We're going to find these suspects but we're developing those leaders as we speak,” he said.
“The shameless act of violence is very sick and disturbing to me and everyone who has watched the video," said Aziz. "Our seniors deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and not be violently accosted in our neighborhoods where we live peacefully. We need our community’s help in arresting these suspects so that they may be brought to justice and held accountable for their senseless act of violence. We are asking the community to look at this video and the pictures of the suspects and call us with information."
Anyone with information is urged to call the Carjacking Interdiction Unit at 301-516-3788 or Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS. A cash reward of up to $2,500 is being offered.
In 2022, there have been 132 reported carjackings in the county. Investigators have made 54 arrests - 37 of the arrested are juveniles and 17 are adults.
Prince George's County has been dealing with a surge of carjackings over the past two years, leading the county to begin a carjacking task force.
Since then, the carjacking case closure rate has increased from approximately 33% to nearly 50%.