WASHINGTON — Police say a Hyattsville man committed an armed carjacking less than an hour after he was released from a nearby detention center.
Guaymar Cabrera-Hernandez — a 24-year-old from Hyattsville — is facing charges for armed carjacking, armed robbery and first degree assault.
On Aug. 17, a 38-year-old victim says a man, later identified as Cabrera-Hernandez, approached her at the Islamic Education Center parking lot located at 7917 Montrose Road in Potomac, Maryland. Police say Cabrera-Hernandez approached her rolled-down driver’s side window and displayed a knife and brick.
Cabrera-Hernandez held the knife up to the victim’s neck and ordered her to get out of the car, police say. When the woman got out of the car, he threw the brick at her, got into the car and drove away from the parking lot at a high rate of speed.
Detectives noted that the Montgomery County Detention Center, located at 1307 Seven Locks Road, is less than a mile from the location of the carjacking.
Following the crime, investigators asked about inmates who had recently been released from the facility and learned that Cabrera-Hernandez had been released from custody about 30 minutes before the carjacking. The victim also positively identified Cabrera-Hernandez as the carjacker.
Cabrera-Hernandez was initially in the detention center facing charges of disorderly conduct from a June 2015 incident in Silver Spring.
Two days later, police say Cabrera-Hernandez stole a vehicle from D.C. and fled into Montgomery County. D.C. police and Secret Service officers chased the stolen Honda across the D.C. line to the intersection of Little Falls Parkway and River Road in Montgomery County, where he ditched the SUV and headed back toward the District.
He was found in D.C. near the Montgomery County line and taken into custody.
He was interviewed by Montgomery County Major Crimes detectives and admitted to committing the Potomac carjacking.
