WASHINGTON - A man caught by D.C. police after carjacking a woman in the Sibley Hospital parking lot on Wednesday is an illegal immigrant who had already been deported once. He also carjacked another woman earlier in the week in Potomac, Maryland minutes after getting out of jail.
On Monday, Guaymar Cabrera-Hernandez was released from the Montgomery County Detention Center where he has been since June. The charges against him for that arrest are unclear. He then showed up at an Islamic education center in Potomac and violently carjacked a 38-year-old woman.
"He was standing at the driver side door -- her window was down -- holding a knife in one hand and a brick in the other hand," said Officer Rick Goodale, a Montgomery County Police Department spokesperson. "He reached in and put the knife to her neck in the car. He told her to get out of the car. She complied. Then he threw the brick at her."
Police had hunch about the suspect because the Montgomery County Detention Center is nearby. Officer Goodale said officers went to the detention center and were told that Cabrera-Hernandez had been released just a half hour prior to the police receiving the call for the carjacking.
Cabrera-Hernandez had the victim's car for Monday and Tuesday. He reappeared on Monday morning at the above-ground parking lot at the Sibley Hospital Medical Office Building.
The 68-year-old victim had just parked her Honda CRV on the fourth floor when Cabrera-Hernandez approached on the driver's side. Her keys were still in the ignition. He brandished a green bottle and said to her, "Give me your keys."
He then ran around the back of the car, according to court documents, and got into her car by the unlocked passenger side. He hit her on the arm with the bottle. The two struggled, and the elderly woman told police that he threw the bottle at her, and it went out the driver side window. She was then able to escape the car.
Cabrera-Hernandez took her car and broke through the parking security gate. He drove northbound back to Maryland. He ditched the car and took off by foot, back the way he came. He was found walking on the sidewalk at 47th Street and Massachusetts Avenue in Northwest. D.C. police arrested him and found the Honda car key.
After his arrest, D.C. police found that Cabrera-Hernandez had an outstanding warrant for armed carjacking in Montgomery County. On Friday, Montgomery County police announced that Cabrera-Hernandez was charged with armed carjacking, armed robbery and first-degree assault.
He is in D.C. jail pending a hearing on August 26.
Law enforcement sources say that Cabrera-Hernandez is from Guatemala. However, he told the District Court that he is a U.S. citizen and was born in Prince George's County.
He claims to be 24 years old. However, he was first arrested in 2007 for being in the United States illegally. He was then arrested in 2011 for illegally reentering the country. He was deported in November 2011, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
A spokeswoman for ICE sent this statement: "Guaymar Cabrera-Hernandez was arrested in Montgomery County, Maryland, on June 05, 2015, on local charges. The crime for which Cabrera-Hernandez was arrested did not meet ICE's civil immigration enforcement priorities; however, ICE is closely monitoring the outcome of his current legal proceedings."
Already deported from the United States once, in and out of jail, it seems nothing can stop this alleged criminal from hurting innocent people.