A series of recent violent crimes in Chevy Chase and neighborhoods just across the D.C. border has Chevy Chase Village on alert.
Chevy Chase Village Police on Friday urged residents to remain vigilant. Only one of the five crimes — a March 13 armed carjacking in the victim’s driveway — happened on the Maryland side of the D.C. line. But all were nearby, including a daytime carjacking on Tuesday a block from Chevy Chase Circle.
Metropolitan Police Department detectives arrested a juvenile suspect on Wednesday for that carjacking, which police said happened at 2:50 p.m. near the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and Northampton Street NW. The MPD said the same juvenile was responsible for a forcible robbery around 8 p.m. Tuesday in the 3200 block of Oliver Street NW.
Police believe other suspects in the Tuesday carjacking remain at large.
On March 19, in the 3700 block of Oliver Street NW, MPD officers spotted the suspect in a 12:25 p.m. home invasion robbery right after the crime and gave chase. They caught up with and arrested 57-year-old Cochise Darnell Hudgens of Southeast D.C.
Police said Hudgens forced his way into a home, assaulted one of the occupants and demanded property from another occupant. Officers caught him in the 5500 block of Connecticut Avenue and charged him with Burglary One while Armed.
On March 25, in the 3300 block of Runnymeade Place NW, police reported another carjacking.
Chevy Chase Police advised residents to scan the area before approaching their car and to have their keys in hand and ready just before reaching their car door. Police also said residents should talk through the locked door to figure out the identity and purpose of anyone knocking or ringing their door.
In the Chevy Chase Village carjacking, police said a man pointed a gun at a resident in her driveway before the resident ran to her home and the man stole the vehicle. The incident happened in the 100 block of East Melrose Street, near Brookeville Road and just a few blocks north of the D.C. line.
A few days later, a U.S. Park Police officer in D.C. spotted the stolen car and suspect in the carjacking, which led to a chase and shootout. Police said David Joel Sutton, 18, of the 1700 block of Montana Avenue NE in D.C., has been charged with armed carjacking, carjacking, first degree assault, armed robbery, the use of a firearm in the commission of a violent felony and the unlawful taking of a motor vehicle.
