19-year-old facing federal charges in armed carjacking of Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon
PHILADELPHIA - A Wilmington man is facing federal charges in connection with the armed carjacking of Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon in South Philadelphia, prosecutors announced Thursday.
Josiah Brown, 19, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint on charges of carjacking and carrying and using a firearm during a crime of violence.
"The investigation into this incident is in its very initial stages, and we are continuing to investigate and evaluate charging decisions," said U.S. Attorney Jennifer Williams. "Armed carjacking is a serious federal crime. There have been a rash of violent crimes like this recently, and while there were national security implications to this particular incident, we are always working collaboratively with our local partners to evaluate if cases should be taken federally. Working together means more resources, more tools, more intelligence. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If you pick up a gun and use it to commit a crime, together, we will come after you. And we are very good at what we do."
According to the congresswoman's account of the carjacking, the suspect's car partially blocked her 2017 Acura MDX that was parked in a parking space. She thought the people in the car were waiting to pick someone up from the park.
That's when two armed people got out of the waiting car and demanded Scanlon's car keys. She handed over the keys, recalling that she wisely "wasn't going to argue with someone with a gun."
Police say one of the suspects drove away with Scanlon's car and the other got back into the original car. No one was hurt during the carjacking and Scanlon credited local authorities for moving "quickly" to locate her car hours later in Delaware.
The Delaware State Police on Thursday said four teens between 13 and 16 are facing charges of receiving stolen property after officers saw the group pile into Congresswoman Scanlon's 2017 Acura MDX near the Christiania Mall.
Brown made his initial appearance in federal magistrate court in Philadelphia Thursday afternoon and is currently detained.
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