Montgomery County police arrested three Silver Spring teens and another from Prince George’s County in connection with an Oct. 19 armed carjacking in downtown Bethesda, police said Wednesday in a news release.
Police were dispatched around 9:30 p.m. to the county parking garage at the 4800 block of Bethesda Avenue for the report of an armed carjacking, according to radio transmissions. The block is home to Ourisman Honda and Bethesda Row, a collection of dining and retail businesses.
The Silver Spring teens, ages 13, 14 and 17, and a 15-year-old from Prince George’s County, dressed in black and wearing facemasks, allegedly approached the driver of a black Honda Prologue and demanded his keys and property, according to radio transmissions and police statements. The 17-year-old allegedly displayed a gun, according to the police statement.
Within seven minutes of the initial dispatch, an officer observed the vehicle less than half a mile away near Wisconsin Avenue and Stanford Street, according to radio transmissions. The teens bailed from the car at Leland Street and Maple Avenue in Chevy Chase and ran in different directions and through backyards as officers pursued them, according to radio transmissions.
Police dogs and a helicopter were dispatched and a perimeter was set up, according to radio transmissions. The four teens were “quickly” apprehended, police said.
The 17-year-old was transported to the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit in Rockville. He was charged as an adult with armed carjacking, armed robbery and other related offenses, according to the statement.
The 14-year-old was taken to a local hospital after sustaining minor injuries during the alleged carjacking and subsequent effort to run away. The teen was taken into custody Oct. 22 and charged with armed carjacking and armed robbery, police said.
That teen and the other two teens, ages 13 and 15, are being held at the Cheltenham Detention Center in Prince George’s County.
The center serves as a “secure detention facility for male and female youth who are waiting to go to court or be placed in a treatment facility,” according to its website. It serves youth from Montgomery, Prince George’s, Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s Counties, the website said.
