(Updated at 5:15 p.m.) A person trying to sell their car online — reportedly via Craigslist — instead became the victim of a carjacking.
Police say they were called to the 2400 block of S. Glebe Road, near the I-395 ramps, just before 4 p.m. yesterday.
Arlington’s top prosecutor said she is working with Arlington County Police Department to establish a multi-agency cooperative effort to tackle the carjackings and vehicle tamperings here and in the D.C. area.
“My philosophy has always been to focus on crimes that are a public safety risk,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti tells ARLnow. “Car tamperings and car thefts, I don’t look at those as simple ‘property crimes’ because those are things that make people feel vulnerable and set people up for dangerous situations.”
As COVID-19 cases surged in Arlington County last year, so did carjackings, assaults, trespassings and opioid overdoses, according to a new annual report from Arlington County Police Department.
Meanwhile, alcohol-related crimes and vehicle crashes saw significant decreases.
An armed carjacking and a police chase led to the arrest of four suspects — all under the age of 18 — over the weekend.
The incident happened around 8 p.m. on Sunday. Police say a victim was sitting in his car in a parking garage near the Pentagon City mall when the suspects approached and one drew a gun.
A knife-wielding man carjacked a rideshare vehicle in Ballston this morning and drove off with the passenger still inside, police say.
The Arlington County Police Department announced the man’s arrest Tuesday afternoon.
A South Carolina man who forcibly stole a woman’s car and then fled from police has received a nearly four year prison sentence.
On the evening of June 22, 2020, police say Verdell Floyd carjacked a woman in a gas station near Shirlington. According to police, Floyd approached the woman while she was pumping gas “and demanded the vehicle.”
Man Arrested for Alleged Carjacking — “Upon exiting the store, the suspect approached the vehicle associated with the female witness and attempted to hand the male occupant a drink. When the male declined, the suspect allegedly punched him on the side of the head and proceeded to open the vehicle’s door, pull him out and began assaulting him. The occupants from the suspect’s vehicle attempted to intervene and when the suspect refused to comply, they left the scene. Upon seeing that the suspect vehicle had left the parking lot, the suspect entered the victim’s vehicle and fled the scene.” [Arlington County]
Amazon Workers to Volunteer at Vaccination Site — “The company sent out an opportunity for employees to volunteer at the clinic on one of its listservs, and pulled in workers from all around the region, including those at Amazon Web Services, which has a hefty Herndon presence. Roughly 50 Amazon employees will help run the clinic each day… While Arlington health workers will deliver the vaccines themselves, Amazon volunteers will perform other important tasks, like monitoring people for symptoms after they’ve received a shot.” [Washington Business Journal]
Alleged Carjacking Crew Busted in Arlington — “The audacious spree, police officials said Thursday, accounted for five of 21 armed robberies and armed carjackings in the D.C. region linked to the same four-person crew in January and February… Two were arrested Feb. 5 and Feb. 19. The other two were apprehended a week later after a SWAT team converged on them in a hotel in Arlington.” [Washington Post]
Va. Expands Eligibility for Retail Vaccinations — “The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) announced today that Federal Retail Pharmacy partners will expand within Phase 1b to offer vaccines to individuals who are 16-64 with high-risk medical conditions, as well as frontline essential workers.” [Virginia Dept. of Health]
A month ago, Arlington County police announced stepped-up patrols in and around Crystal City, following a string of carjackings.
Since then no new carjackings have been reported, and ACPD says it has taken five guns off the streets via proactive enforcement.
Arlington County police are stepping up patrols around Crystal City and surrounding neighborhoods amid a rash of carjackings.
There have been 18 carjackings in Arlington since January 2020, the police department said, compared to three total over from 2018 to 2019. Most — 13 out of 18 — have occurred along the Route 1 corridor, including 7 in the immediate vicinity of the Pentagon City mall.
For the second time in two weeks a carjacking has been reported along Arlington’s Yellow Line corridor.
The latest carjacking happened Wednesday night along the 23rd Street restaurant row, on the 500 block of 23rd Street S. Three men, two armed with guns, stole a Ford Mustang after the victims exited their car, according to an Arlington County Police Department crime report.
