District Teenager Found Guilty of Armed Carjacking and Related Charges for Robbing Two Victims at Gunpoint and Stealing Car

April 23, 2010 - WASHINGTON—A Superior Court jury has found a 17-year-old District of Columbia teenager, Andre A. Fisher, guilty of carjacking a District woman and a Maryland man at gunpoint and robbing them of their possessions, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced today.

Fisher, of the 1200 block of Southern Avenue, SE, Washington, D.C., was found guilty today by a Superior Court jury of 10 counts—armed carjacking, two counts of armed robbery, three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, unauthorized use of a vehicle, carrying a pistol without a license, possession of an unregistered firearm, and unlawful possession of ammunition. The Honorable Ronna L. Beck presided over the trial. Sentencing is scheduled for July 19, 2010. He faces a mandatory minimum of 20 years in prison.

The evidence at trial established that on November 5, 2009, Fisher, who was tried as an adult in this matter, and another suspect approached the victims as they sat talking in their car at the corner of First and Chesapeake Streets, SE, in Washington, D.C. Fisher tapped on the passenger side window with a handgun, ordered the male victim out of the car, and then robbed him, taking his wallet and approximately $200 in cash. The female victim exited the driver side of her vehicle after being ordered to keep her keys in the car. Fisher and the second suspect then got in the car and drove off, with the victims’ personal belongings in the car and with Fisher in the driver’s seat.

Approximately two hours later, members of the Metropolitan Police Department located the car in the parking lot of a local apartment building, and stationed undercover officers to watch the vehicle. Officers observed Fisher and another individual get into the car, and undercover officers followed them out of the parking lot and north on Martin Luther King Avenue, SW. Fisher and the second suspect bailed out of the car on Chesapeake Street, SW, and fled on foot once officers identified themselves as the police. Fisher was arrested hiding behind a townhouse on Danbury Street, and the second suspect was arrested after a foot chase in a park along the canal on First Street, SE. Handguns matching the descriptions of those used in the carjacking were found in the immediate areas where Fisher and the second suspect were arrested, and Fisher was found wearing a jacket that one of the victims had left in the carjacked vehicle.

In announcing today’s guilty verdict, U.S. Attorney Machen expressed his appreciation to the Metropolitan Police Department’s and the FBI’s joint carjacking task force, and particularly praised the work of D.C. Metropolitan Police Detectives James Francis and Michael Day. U.S. Attorney Machen also commended the work of Paralegal Antoinette Sakamsa. Finally, he commended Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Sroka, who indicted and prosecuted the case at trial, and Assistant U.S. Attorney William Woodruff, who also prosecuted it at trial.