The Metropolitan Police Department released surveillance video showing D.C. Council-at-Large candidate Nate Fleming being carjacked in broad daylight.
Fleming was alone and got out of his car to pump gas around 1:30 p.m. on Saturday at a gas station on the corner of Nannie Helen Burroughs and Minnesota Avenue in Northeast D.C. when a Burgundy SUV pulled up and a gunman wearing a face mask pointed a gun at him.
“To be threatened at gunpoint is shocking, but I am not surprised that I was attacked given the increase in carjackings and the crisis facing young people in this city,” Fleming wrote on Twitter.
To be threatened at gunpoint is shocking, but I am not surprised that I was attacked given the increase in carjackings and the crisis facing young people in this city. The perpetrators of violent crime are getting younger and younger.
— Nate Fleming (@NateforDC) January 16, 2022
He added, “I couldn’t imagine my wife being in the car.”
We need to act fast…..I couldn’t imagine my wife being in the car. https://t.co/4eHgCggM39
— Nate Fleming (@NateforDC) January 19, 2022
The politician gave the gunman his keys, who started to drive off with his car. The SUV drove away with three masked individuals inside before coming back to follow Fleming into the gas station’s store.
“Yes, because it happened too quickly,” Fleming clarified Wednesday. “They didn’t want me to use my phone.”
Yes. Because it happened too quickly. As I said, I was aware of how carjackings were proliferating. So I had thought about what I would do in that situation. They didn’t want me to use my phone. https://t.co/EFMgr2QELw
— Nate Fleming (@NateforDC) January 19, 2022
Fleming’s office later released a statement saying fighting crime is central to his campaign.
For the press. Here are the facts about my carjacking at gunpoint in NE DC this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/5Epqx574MK
— Nate Fleming (@NateforDC) January 15, 2022
“Increasing public safety is at the heart of why I am running for a citywide Council seat,” the candidate said. “We must attack public safety as a short term issue, but we must recognize that violence is a symptom of long term issues like educational inequality, lack of economic opportunity, and the lack of mental health care resources in our communities.”
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The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the crime. Fleming said there were several witnesses to the carjacking.
