South Carolina Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Charges Relating to a String of Armed Carjacking Offenses

Fired Shots at Vehicles During Attempted Carjackings; Defendant Expected to Be Sentenced to 20 Years in Federal Prison

Baltimore, Maryland – Quention Price, age 27, of Columbia, South Carolina, pleaded guilty today to two federal carjacking charges; to discharging a weapon during a crime of violence; and to using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, in connection with a carjacking and attempted carjacking committed on June 15, 2019, in the Inner Harbor area of downtown Baltimore.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur; Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; and Commissioner Michael Harrison of the Baltimore Police Department.

United States Attorney Robert K. Hur stated, “We are committed to working with our law enforcement partners to get guns out of the hands of violent criminals and off of our streets.  If you use a gun, you could face federal time, where there is no parole—ever.  Please, put down the guns and save a life—maybe even your own.”

According to his guilty plea, on the evening of June 15, 2019, Price stood in the middle of the street in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor region in front of a Honda Civic, forcing the vehicle to stop.  Price approached the driver’s side door, telling the driver to “open the door” while pulling on the door handle.  When the driver refused, Price became frustrated, walked to the front of the car, pulled out a handgun, and discharged two bullets in an attempt to take the vehicle.  One of the bullets went through the front windshield of the car and lodged in the empty front passenger seat.  The driver and his backseat passenger were able to get away in the car, successfully avoiding Price, who fled the scene.

As detailed in his plea agreement, while fleeing from the first carjacking, Price fired his weapon at a passing Subaru Outback station wagon.  The bullet went through the hood of the vehicle, just below the front windshield.  Price was then captured on surveillance video walking into the middle of Light Street where he approached multiple cars and brandished his gun while pulling on the car door handles.  At approximately 11:00 p.m. Price approached a BMW 325i, climbed onto the hood of the vehicle and began striking the windshield with his gun, cracking the glass and punching a hole, all while screaming at the driver to “get out of the car.”  Price then walked to the driver’s side, struck the driver in the face with the butt of his pistol through an open window, and pulled the victim out of the vehicle by her hair.  After the driver and passenger had exited the car, Price drove the BMW northbound on Light Street towards the Inner Harbor, crashing the car a few blocks away.  As a Baltimore Police officer responded, Price fell out of the car and moved toward the trunk, where he was immediately arrested.  Officers recovered the gun, a .357 revolver, from behind the BMW, where Price was found when police arrived on the scene.  The gun matched the description provided by the driver of the BMW and contained three spent shell casings in the cylinder, indicating that it had been fired three times.  The driver and passenger of the BMW were brought to the scene and identified Price as the carjacker.  Price was also subsequently heard on recorded jail calls admitting to carjacking vehicles and to firing his gun at the vehicles and their passengers.

Price and the government have agreed that, if the Court accepts the plea agreement, Price will be sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.  U.S. District Judge George L. Russell, III has scheduled sentencing for September 24, 2020 at 9:30 a.m. 

United States Attorney Robert K. Hur commended the FBI and the Baltimore Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Hur thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Goldsticker, who is prosecuting the case.