Attempted Carjacker Shot by Justice Sotomayor’s Security Detail

On Friday, a man who attempted to carjack a vehicle belonging to the security detail of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was shot by two of the officers.

As Fox News reports, two Deputy U.S. Marshals were in unmarked security vehicles while on-duty on the 2100 block of 11th Street NW, at approximately 1:15 AM EST. It was then that 18-year-old Kentrell Flowers got out of a silver minivan and walked up to one of the Marshal’s vehicles, pointing a handgun at the Marshal through the window. The Marshal returned fire, shooting Flowers four times, while a second Marshal in another vehicle also fired at the suspect.

It was later confirmed by the U.S. Marshals Service that the two Marshals involved were assigned to the detail that protects Justice Sotomayor at her home, although she was not in her home at the time of the shooting.

Flowers was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after being shot in the mouth. Authorities at the scene recovered the .40 caliber Smith & Wesson that he used, with only 8 rounds loaded into a 13-round magazine. Flowers was then arrested at the hospital; he now faces charges of armed carjacking, carrying a pistol without a license, and possession of a “large capacity” magazineThe attempted carjacking of Sotomayor’s security detail is the latest high profile example of the ongoing trend of carjackings surging in the nation’s capital. In November, an attempted carjacker was shot by a U.S. Secret Service officer assigned to protect Naomi Biden, Joe Biden’s granddaughter, in D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood. In October, Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) was the victim of a carjacking near the Capitol by three armed suspects, though he himself wasn’t harmed.

Thus far in 2024, there have been 258 carjacking offenses reported in Washington D.C., with 71% of those incidents involving firearms.