‘You’re taking a human life:’ Viral video allegedly shows DC teens discussing difference in criminal charges

WASHINGTON - A video being shared widely across social media appears to show juveniles in D.C. discussing the difference in charges between armed robbery, armed carjacking and murder.

In the video, two juveniles can be seen arguing about whether armed robbery and armed carjacking are worse than committing murder. Social media posts identify those in the video as "D.C. teens."

"He's saying he'd rather commit murder than armed robbery … armed robbery is what we're doing," one of the teens can be heard saying.

"It's armed robbery and an armed carjacking … it's both of them combined, that's higher than murder," the other teen says in the video.

"You're taking a human life," argues the first teen. "You'd rather take a human's life and get life than rob someone and get ten to twelve years."

Off camera, a third person chimes in.

"Murder is a gun charge, possession of a gun, murder, first-degree murder … that's like eight charges in one case."

A post on X, formerly known as Twitter, sharing the video has been seen over 170,000 times.

FOX 5's Stephanie Ramirez was able to eventually ask D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser about the video Monday. "I won't be wasting my time watching that," she told Ramirez. "If it is an accurate video, I'm not sure what I would do with that information."

More on juvenile crime in D.C.

Crime and Public Safety Washington, D.C.