Armed DC carjacker caught on Ring camera before taking off with victim and 11-month-old child

WASHINGTON - A D.C. resident’s Ring doorbell camera captured images of an armed carjacking near Capitol Hill Wednesday around 5 p.m.

The suspect, described as a Black male with a beard in his 20s or 30s, approached the victim and an 11-month-old child seated inside a white Mercedes-Benz C250 parked on the 700 block of 4th Street Northeast, just a short walk from Capitol Hill and Union Station.

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The suspect brandished a knife and demanded the victim get out of the vehicle. The victim told police she "begged" the suspect to let her remove the child from the backseat, but the suspect refused and pushed her back. The victim then began to scream and punch the suspect when the suspect entered the vehicle and drove off with the victim and the child still inside.

The victim told police the suspect said, "Keep screaming, and I'm gonna stab you," according to a police report.

While fleeing the scene, the victim continued to beg the suspect to let her and her child leave. The suspect said he would take them to a "safe place" before he stole the vehicle, according to the report. Eventually, the suspect stopped at an intersection and let the victims out of the car.

The suspect remains on the run. The victims sustained minor injuries, but no one was seriously hurt, police said.

MPD is offering a $10,000 reward for anyone who shares information that could lead to the suspect's arrest. Authorities are asking anyone with information to contact police at 202-727-9099 or text a tip to the department's Text Tip Line at 50411. 

There have been 332 motor vehicle theft incidents in D.C. so far in 2022 compared to 331 over the same time period last year. There have also been 651 theft-from-auto incidents compared to 712 at the same time last year, representing a 9% decrease. Robbery is up 49%, burglary is up 64% and general theft is up 20%, according to D.C. police crime statistics.

Mayor Muriel Bowser on Tuesday addressed the uptick in carjackings — especially those involving juvenile suspects — over the past two years during the COVID-19 pandemic.

MPD arrested 34 adults and 59 juveniles for D.C. carjacking offenses in 2020. Those numbers increased to 50 adults and 101 juveniles in 2021. As of Feb. 1, 2022, MPD has arrested 19 adults and 14 juveniles for carjacking incidents.

"We are focused, in both jurisdictions, on collaborating to make our communities safer for all people," Bowser said in a statement. "And we are particularly focused on how we reach our young people – how we engage young people so they don’t get involved in violent activity, how we hold them accountable when they do, and how we get them on a more productive and positive path forward."

Read more at FOXNews.com.