If you’ve spent any time on the internet this year, you’ve seen the “f*** around and find out” meme. One teen in Washington, D.C., certainly earned his “find out” stripes last week when he tried to carjack a local grandma on her way to cancer treatment.
WJLA reported that the woman, known in her neighborhood as “Grandma,” was on her way to chemotherapy on Friday when the 15-year-old approached her car. She told the news, “Next thing I know, he walked up talking about, ‘Give me your keys, I got a gun.’ I said, ‘Baby, you better shoot me, because you’re not taking my car.’”
The two fought over the keys, and Grandma said he pushed her into the car door — and then she started hitting him. Her calls were heard by neighbors, who came out to help and caught the teen as he ran away. It’s unclear whether his injuries came from Grandma or from whatever happened between the neighbors grabbing him and police arriving, but the teen left the scene in an ambulance. As Grandma noted, he apparently chose the wrong neighborhood. “They said it’s a wonder he wasn’t dead. On 22nd street? He must didn’t know where he was. Nobody has seen this boy before.”
D.C.’s Metro Police Department tracks carjacking offenses and has recorded 91 this year. More than half, 64 percent, involved guns. So police do not advise resisting a carjacker like Grandma did — your car is not worth your life. The District doesn’t seem to have the best record catching the thieves, as its site claims just nine carjacking arrests so far this year, and most of those arrests were minors.
Elsewhere, stories of these crimes are becoming more frightening. A pregnant woman in Illinois was run over while trying to save her toddler from carjackers, while a Tennessee man stands accused of pistol-whipping robbery victims. Another in Texas pulled a gun on a mother in front of her children before taking police for a chase.
