Two persons carjacked a vehicle belonging to an employee of the FBI’s car mid-afternoon Wednesday in Washington, D.C., according to multiple outlets.
The carjacking of an FBI special agent occurred at gunpoint, with the vehicle containing his body armor and radio, ABC News reported. Authorities recovered the car around half an hour later about a mile from the scene of the theft, the D.C. Metropolitan police told the New York Post. The agent did not sustain injuries. (RELATED: REPORT: Police Officer Investigating Stolen Car Gets Shot, Authorities Arrest Two Suspects)
FBI agent carjacked in Washington, latest in string of high-profile carjackings https://t.co/MkuPCBsLBX pic.twitter.com/TYY0tVTpYI
— New York Post (@nypost) November 30, 2023
“At this time, we can confirm that an FBI employee was carjacked on the afternoon of November 29. The vehicle was recovered, and the FBI Washington Field Office and the Metropolitan Police Department’s Carjacking Task Force are investigating,” the FBI stated to the press, ABC reported.
Washington, D.C., is facing a surge in carjackings, which have more than doubled since 2022, the New York Post reported. Police link the dramatic 104% rise in carjackings — from over 400 reported cases in 2022 to over 800 in 2023 — to repeat juvenile offenders, Fox 5 reported. Police data shows that 66% of arrests of those offenders are juvenile.
In October, suspects carjacked Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas outside his own apartment in D.C. Even back in June 2021, suspects carjacked a foreign diplomat from the United Arab Emirates at gunpoint, Fox 5 reported.
“It’s incredibly concerning and this is a safe neighborhood and I know my neighbors are obviously, they are concerned and care about these types of issues,” Matthew Cohen, a D.C. neighborhood commissioner, told the outlet.