Detectives from the Montgomery County Police Department – 3rd District Investigative Section have arrested and charged two 15-year-old males from Northeast, Washington, D.C., with auto theft and kidnapping-related offenses for the June 16 theft of a vehicle that occurred at a gas station in downtown Silver Spring. The vehicle owner’s two-year-old daughter was in the backseat of her car when her car was stolen.
On Wednesday, June 16 at approximately 9:30 a.m., 3rd District officers responded to a gas station located in the 8600 block of Georgia Avenue for the report of a vehicle theft that had just occurred. The adult female victim stated that her two-year-old daughter was still in a car seat in the rear passenger area of the vehicle when the car was stolen.
The investigation by detectives determined that the victim had stopped her vehicle at an air-pump station located in the gas station parking lot to vacuum out her vehicle. The victim exited her vehicle and was inserting money into the air pump machine when one of the suspects entered the driver’s area of her vehicle and fled out of the parking lot.
A witness, who observed the vehicle theft, followed the victim’s stolen vehicle onto Colesville Road. The witness stated to officers that he observed the stolen vehicle stop on Colesville Road to pick up the second suspect. After stopping on Colesville Road, both suspects fled from the vehicle on foot. The witness provided officers with a description of both suspects. Officers located the victim’s vehicle nearby on Colesville Road and determined that the 2-year-old was not injured.
Officers in the area observed two individuals who matched the suspects’ description walking in the area of Fenton Street and Veterans Place in downtown Silver Spring. Upon seeing the officers, both suspects fled on foot. After a brief foot pursuit, both juvenile suspects were taken into custody.
Both teenagers were charged as juveniles with vehicle theft and kidnapping-related offenses.
