Carjackings have increased by more than 100% in cities including Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis. And, up more than 343% in Washington, D.C, the news outlet report
Violent carjackings have spiked nationwide during the pandemic in a shocking trend that is being driven in part by young teens who investigators say have “time on their hands,” CBS News reported.
The children, sometimes as young as 12, are targeting delivery drivers and people warming up their cars, authorities said. Last month, in Washington, D.C., Uber Eats driver Mohammed Anwar was killed in a brutal carjacking after his Honda Accord was allegedly stolen by two teenage girls.
“It’s my car!” Anwar can be heard saying in a video of the incident.
The car then accelerated and sped away before a loud crash was heard. The witness recording the incident ran down the street and found the car flipped on its side and two teens climbing out of the wreck.
Anwar, a Pakistani immigrant who came to the U.S. in 2014, was killed in the crash. The teens have been charged with felony murder and armed carjacking. Police say one of them is a suspect in another carjacking from three months ago.
In Chicago, a woman screamed as a suspect threw her to the ground before getting away in her car, CBS reported.
Carjackings have increased by more than 100% in cities including Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and Minneapolis. They're also up more than 343% in Washington, D.C, CBS reported.
Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones told CBS News that motorists should always “be aware of their surroundings,” and “get out of a situation if it is doesn’t feel right.”
Draper Younce, a navy sailor, did just that when he was carjacked at gunpoint while waiting for a friend in his Tesla. He told CBS a man ran to his car, put a gun to his face and ordered him out of the vehicle. Younce stepped on the gas to escape and said the suspect shot at his car. Bullets hit the driver’s side door and back of the passenger door, but Younce was unharmed.
"A little bit of luck was involved with that," he told CBS.
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