An UberEats driver was carjacked in Washington, D.C., on March 23 by two teenage girls.
The 13- and 15-year-old thieves reportedly used a stun gun on Mohammad Anwar before speeding off, the owner of the car hanging helplessly from the driver’s side door. The carjackers then took a sharp corner, overturning the vehicle, and ejecting and killing the 66-year-old Pakistani immigrant from whom they stole the car.
The fatal incident is part of a fast-growing trend in the district, where carjackings have become nearly as popular a local institution as the blooming of the cherry blossoms.
There have been 101 reported carjackings this year in Washington, up considerably from the 22 carjackings reported at this time last year, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
That’s an increase of a little more than 350%. As for 2020, carjackings were up nearly 150%, compared to 2019.
Law enforcement officials in the district have also made 47 arrests already this year, compared to the two they made at this time in 2020. That’s an increase of 2,250%.
The crime spree has affected both powerful and working-class residents.
In December 2020, Councilmember Mary Cheh’s vehicle was stolen while she made a quick stop inside a bakery. Later, in February, former Councilmember Jack Evans’s car was stolen in broad daylight in front of his home.
In January, law enforcement officials sent out a citywide alert after a woman’s two- and four-year-old children were kidnapped briefly when her vehicle was stolen as she was making a delivery.
As for the two teenage girls whose actions caused the death of Anwar, who was a husband, a father, and a grandfather, they are not being tried as adults.
“[C]harging this person as an adult [who’s] a juvenile … does not bring back the lost loved one in this case,” said acting Chief Robert Contee III.
He added, “[T]here are several carjackings that we have had so far this year where we’re seeing individuals that are involved in multiple, multiple cases. So, clearly, I think that speaks to us really examining, as a community, the accountability that’s in place.”
On March 23, as Anwar lay dying on the pavement, his body twitching in its final moments, one of the teenage carjackers emerged from the wreckage, shouting desperately to shocked bystanders that she had lost her phone.
