MoCo Citizens Beat Up Thief In Car Jacking Attempt

VIA THE WASHINGTON POST:

A Montgomery County man is being held without bond on attempted carjacking and other charges after police say he tried to steal a Honda Civic from a 78-year-old woman walking with a cane — an endeavor that got him attacked by a group of citizens.

Javier Gonzalez-Mena, 27, escaped from the citizens after the alleged Sunday attempt, but displayed a swollen right eye when he was arrested later that day.

The victim, who screamed for help in Spanish, was not injured, a police spokesman said Tuesday.

Police got involved in the case shortly before 1 p.m. Sunday, when they were called to a parking lot outside a Bestway grocery store on Piney Branch Road, in Silver Spring. There, they learned that a suspect approached the woman, showed her a knife and demanded her keys.

She complied, and began walking to the store screaming for help, according to police.

Gonzalez-Mena apparently left something behind that allowed police to develop him as the suspect, according to police accounts. He was located on Arliss Street in Silver Spring, and led police on a short foot chase before being arrested.

Detectives believe he received his facial injury from a citizen who came to help the victim, a police spokesman said.

Gonzalez-Mena was charged with attempted carjacking, attempted theft, reckless endangerment, assault, and possession of a dangerous and deadly weapon, and other offenses, police said.