A boy aged 11 was arrested and accused of a series of robberies. Also, a 12-year-old has been arrested and charged with multiple carjackings and attacks.
Those are just two disturbing crime waves broken up in the nation’s capital this past week.
Last week on Irving Street in Northwest Washington, a masked teenager robbed Ryan Cummins at gunpoint. Cummins realized the assailant was a juvenile as soon as he challenged him.
Cummins claimed in an interview that he realized he didn’t weigh much when he shoved him.
An even younger suspect, 11, was detained on Saturday concerning two other robberies in the area. He was apprehended for armed robbery and is one of the District’s youngest arrested.
Police also accused the 11-year-old of robbing a man of his bicycle on Lamont Street NW on May 21. The boy was also charged as a juvenile with armed robbery. The man initially resisted but eventually gave up when the boy produced a revolver.
The 12-year-old suspect was involved in at least nine robberies and carjackings.
Between March 21 and April 29, many violent crimes were reported in the Anacostia neighborhood. Most crimes occurred in the evenings when students returned home from classes between 5 p.m. and midnight; however, one robbery happened at 2:15 p.m. on a Tuesday.
No bullets were fired during any of the carjackings. The teen, accompanied to court by his mother, had no prior arrests.
According to a police report, in March, the kid knocked a woman to the ground outside of Martha’s Table in Southeast and tried to steal her pocketbook and keys. A few weeks later, police claimed the teen had stolen a red Toyota Highlander after threatening the victim with a gun and taking his keys and phone. The victim’s 10-year-old cat was still in the car.
On April 25 in D.C., a group of teenagers struck a woman over the head with a pistol or BB gun before robbing her of her clothes, shoes, and smartphone before driving off in her car.
It’s disturbing that children, some of whom aren’t even adolescents yet, are participating in violent carjackings.
