Police continued to search Monday for six gunmen responsible for a string of carjackings and two separate crashes that injured a dozen people Sunday in the Maryland suburbs.
Shortly before noon Sunday, six males armed with semiautomatic weapons, including a Tech 9 machine pistol, got out of a white Jeep Liberty and carjacked three pickups, a Ford F-150, Dodge Dakota and a Chevy Silverado, loaded with all-terrain vehicles. Police say they believe the gunmen targeted the ATVs, which were all near popular motorbike trails outside Laurel.
Police were still piecing together information about the crime Monday and no arrests had been made by the afternoon, said Prince George’s police Cpl. Diane Richardson.
A man and woman injured in one of the crashes remained in serious condition Monday, Richardson said. They were riding in a Honda when the carjacked F-150 slammed into their car at Howard and Rhode Island avenues in Beltsville. The carjacker fled on foot before police arrived.
Prince George’s officers later spotted the Dodge Dakota and began a pursuit that ended when the carjacker lost control of the vehicle just over the Montgomery County line on New Hampshire Avenue between Adelphi Road and Fox Street.
That crash caused a 13-car pileup that sent 10 people to hospitals. None of the injuries in that crash appeared to be life-threatening, Montgomery County police spokeswoman Gloria Jackson said. The driver of the Dakota fled on foot.
Richardson said the men involved in the carjackings are all black, believed to be in their 20s and wearing jeans and T-shirts.
The brazen nature of the broad-daylight carjackings concerned police. “That tells us we’re dealing with dangerous people,” Richardson said.
Police were still searching for the Liberty and the Silverado on Monday. Anyone with information is asked to call the Prince George’s County police tip line at 866-411-TIPS.
