A congressman from Texas was the victim of an armed carjacking near his home in Navy Yard in Southeast D.C. on Monday night, and police are still looking for three suspects.
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) was not hurt when masked carjackers made off with his white 2019 Toyota C-HR LE at K Street and New Jersey Avenue SE in Navy Yard just before 9:30 p.m.
Cuellar, 68, said three guys “came out of nowhere” and pointed guns at him.
“I do have a black belt, but I recognize when you have three guns — I looked at one with a gun, another with a gun a third one behind me — so they said they wanted my car, I said, ‘Sure,’” he told reporters Tuesday. “You’ve got to keep calm in those situations. And then they took off.”
“They had masks, but you could still see that they were young,” he said.
Police were able to track the congressman’s phone, which was tossed out of the car and found on 14th Street at Good Hope Road SE.
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
Soon after that, Cuellar's car was recovered in the 2600 block of Douglass Road SE in Anacostia, law enforcement sources told News4.
U.S. & World
"They recovered the car. They recovered everything. What really got me upset was they took my sushi, but anyway, that's something else," Cuellar said.
Cuellar said he's "good" after the incident and is grateful to law enforcement.
“I do want to thank the Capitol Police, and I certainly want to thank the Metro police. I'm a big law enforcement person. I got three brothers in law enforcement. So, I certainly appreciate the good work that the police did last night...” Cuellar said. “The message is very simple: You got to support law enforcement.”
Cuellar said he didn’t think that he was targeted because he’s a member of Congress or that the suspects knew who he was. He said that questions about the security of lawmakers should be left to the House administration and police.
In a statement, U.S. Capitol Police said:
"DC’s Metropolitan Police Department is investigating an armed carjacking that happened around 9:30 p.m. in DC’s Navy Yard neighborhood. The victim has been identified as a Member of Congress, so the USCP has investigators working with MPD on this case. Injuries were not reported. Detectives are working to track down the suspects."
In a statement distributed shortly after the crime, Cuellar's Chief of Staff Jacob Hochberg said:
“As Congressman Cuellar was parking his car this evening, 3 armed assailants approached the Congressman and stole his vehicle. Luckily, he was not harmed and is working with local law enforcement. Thank you to Metro PD and Capitol Police for their swift action and for recovering the Congressman’s vehicle.”
Cuellar, who was first elected in 2004, represents a district that stretches from San Antonio to the Mexican border. He is serving his 10th term and went to Georgetown University for graduate school.
Monday’s incident was the second high-profile crime against a member of Congress in the District of Columbia this year. In February, Democratic Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota was assaulted in her Washington apartment building, suffering bruises while escaping serious injury. Her chief of staff said the attack did not appear to be politically motivated.
A staffer for Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was brutally stabbed in March as he left a restaurant on H Street NE.
Police made arrests in both of those attacks.
In recent weeks, the House administration gave members of Congress and their staffers a briefing on how to stay safe in the District.
The increase in carjacking is outpacing all other violent crime in D.C. this year. Cuellar's case was at least the 754th carjacking in D.C. so far this year, according to police data. That is nearly double the number of carjackings at this time last year.
This is a developing story. Refresh for updates.
