Acting DC Police Chief Robert Contee said that charging the juveniles involved in last week’s fatal carjacking as adults would not “bring back the lost loved one in this case,” in an interview with FOX 5.
Contee’s remark came in response to the question whether he thought at least the 15-year-old in the carjacking case should be tried as an adult.
On Tuesday, March 23, two teenage girls, aged 13 and 15, allegedly caused the death of Mohammad Anwar, a 66-year-old UberEats driver, while trying to steal his vehicle in the 1200 block of Van Street, Southeast.
The teens are accused of tasing the Virginia man during their carjacking attempt, leading to a rollover crash which killed Anwar.
The girls have been charged with felony murder and armed carjacking, according to the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
Describing the incident as a “tragic case,” Contee said that DC police have seen many carjackings committed this year so far by individuals that are involved in multiple cases, which requires the accountability in place to be closely examined.
“You know, how is it that someone is charged with carjacking or is responsible for carjacking commits another carjacking and another carjacking? I think it’s the larger issue than just this one particular case,” Contee said.
Anwar, the victim of last week’s incident, was a father, a grandfather, and a husband. He “was a hard-working Pakistani immigrant who came to the United States to create a better life for him and his family,” according to a GoFundMe page started to support the family of Anwar. “He was simply at work … providing for his family, when his life was tragically taken in an appalling act of violence.”
“The family is devastated by this senseless crime,” Anwar’s family members said in a statement to WUSA9. He was “beloved by many here in the United States and in Pakistan, his birth country.”
According to MPD, at least one minor has been arrested in 19 carjackings in 2021 so far in the District.
There has also been an overall rise in carjackings, with a total of 101 incidents this year, while the figure was 22 during the same period of 2020.