Four armed suspects stole a car and high-priced jewelry in an armed carjacking in Washington on Saturday.
Three victims were traveling on Foxhall Road in a white BMW X3 when a gray Lexus RX350 with a Virginia temporary tag bumped into the BMW near the Foxhall Crescent neighborhood. When the victims pulled over on Whitehaven Parkway to assess the damage, four suspects exited the Lexus with handguns and ordered the three victims to get out of the car, according to the Metropolitan Police Department incident report obtained by the Washington Examiner.
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The four suspects stole the BMW. They also stole two iPhones, a Sony cellphone, a District of Columbia ID, a handbag, a Duke Law School ID, two credit cards, and two rings. One of the rings was from Tiffany worth $2,000, and the other was a light blue ring worth $5,000.
The stolen cellphones were recovered within the 4700 block of Whitehaven Parkway, and the stolen vehicle was recovered in the rear of 5100 Southern Ave., per the incident report.
District police told the Washington Examiner that the case continues to be investigated, and while there have been recent instances of accidents-turned-carjackings, "it isn't a prominent trend amongst carjackings."
Carjackings have been on the rise in Washington for five years. Recently, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) was carjacked by three armed attackers in the Navy Yard neighborhood near Capitol Hill in early October. In the district, carjackings have surged by nearly 250% in the last five years. There were 148 carjackings in 2018, and that number jumped to 360 in 2020 and 425 in 2021.
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In 2022, the number of incidents reached 485, according to data analyzed by the district's Criminal Justice Coordinating Council based on police records.
To date, there have been 894 carjacking offenses (77% of the carjackings involved guns) in 2023. Only 234 of the 2023 carjacking investigations by police have been closed. In the district, robbery has increased by 67% since last year, and motor vehicle theft has increased by 96% as of Tuesday.