WASHINGTON — A Maryland man was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison over a violent August carjacking that authorities say began in Prince George’s County and ended with a police chase in Northeast D.C.
Kevin Hammond, 26, of Suitland, pleaded guilty in September to carjacking, brandishing a firearm during a violent crime, and interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle. He also pleaded guilty to D.C. charges of assault with a weapon and leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury.
The spree started around 6 a.m. on Aug. 14, when Hammond held up a handyman in New Carrollton and stole his van, driving it into D.C.’s Ivy City neighborhood, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney for D.C.
Prince George’s County and D.C. police were able to track the van through a GPS system. As they attempted to stop it, authorities said, Hammond fled on foot. In the 1900 block of Fairview Street Northeast, Hammond confronted another man on his way to work.
Hammond brandished a gun, stole the man’s keys, then pistol-whipped his head until the gun broke in two.
Then in rush-hour traffic — and with police chasing him on New York Avenue Northeast — Hammond crashed that second car into another before fleeing on foot again. Police found him hiding on a construction site.
Hammond still faces charges in Prince George’s County.
