A 17-year-old accused of carjacking an FBI agent at gunpoint in Washington, D.C. was on Monday charged as an adult over the incident. Per NBC4 Washington, Devonta Lynch and another suspect committed the alleged crime on November 29.
Lynch has since been charged with armed carjacking and is being held without bond. His accomplice, however, remains at large. The carjacking is said to have occurred in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, and the suspects drove off with the stolen vehicle.
And though the vehicle was ultimately returned to the female agent after it was found about 25 minutes later, she told authorities that FBI-issued ammunition was missing, court documents stated.
Lynch was ultimately arrested at his residence by an FBI SWAT team some days later. Authorities also retrieved FBI-issued ammunition from a closet, per court documents. The high school that Lynch attends has since suspended him.
Lynch’s arrest also came after an anonymous tipster on November 30 texted information about one of the suspects, the Metropolitan Police Department’s Command Information Center said, DC News Now reported. The tipster identified the suspect as a 16 or 17-year-old and claimed he and his accomplice were members of the Area 71 gang.
A reward of up to $20,000 has been offered for information that could help arrest the second suspect as well as other people who played a part in the crime. Carjackings in D.C. have been on the ascendancy, with police reporting that more than 900 such crimes have already happened this year, NBC4 Washington reported. Guns have also been used in 77% of the reported carjackings.
Authorities also reported that among the 163 suspects so far arrested in connection with carjacking incidents, 64% of them have been juveniles. To tackle carjackings in D.C., MPD and Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office have started giving away digital tracking tags and dashboard cameras to residents.
