(WBFF) — A police helicopter circling overhead around 11:30 Monday morning drew attention in a neighborhood where a resident said it is “a good area pretty much,” but it quickly became the scene of a search for two armed suspects accused in an armed carjacking.
Mr. Wiggins said he heard the commotion from inside his home. “Something going on,” he said.
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Police said a woman reported she was approached by two males, one of whom pointed a gun at her before the suspects sped off in her vehicle. Radio traffic described the stolen vehicle as “a white Toyota, traveling at a high rate of speed towards the county now.”
Video posted to the Citizen app showed the aviation unit helping direct officers to the suspects’ location.
In radio traffic, an officer could be heard saying, “KGA give me the air, I got one at gunpoint. Get down now, on the ground.”
Police arrested two juveniles, a 16-year-old and a 12-year-old. Police said the two were also suspected of another crime earlier Monday morning: an attempted carjacking a few minutes before the armed carjacking, in which the intended victim was able to get away.
Reacting to the crimes, Mr. Wiggins said, “They messin’ the city up man. We wanna live and have happiness.”
The carjacking investigation comes amid several other recent carjackings involving juveniles in the last couple of weeks. In one recent case, cameras captured the arrest of three juveniles, including two 14-year-olds. Those teens had previous arrests for stolen auto, robbery and handgun violations.
Another case occurred on Super Bowl Sunday. In radio traffic from that incident, an officer said, “I need a medic for this guy. Bump to his head. They hit him with the gun I guess.” Police arrested a 15-year-old, two 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old in that carjacking. The two 16-year-olds were both arrested twice in December for the same crime.
“Just letting them back out just makes them think, they just got on the wrist, go on about your business,” Mr. Wiggins said. He added that there needs to be accountability regardless of age. “They saying not to sentence them and not give them adult charges. But they adult crimes. I mean, they doing a lot of stuff.”
Baltimore police said the 12-year-old and 16-year-old arrested Monday morning were taken to juvenile detention and charged accordingly.
For now, it is not clear whether they have previous criminal records.
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