Teens charged in armed carjacking of security officer
Hagerstown MD June 14 2018 Two teenagers from a Baltimore-area group home have been charged as adults in the armed hijacking of a security guard’s car last week in Hagerstown.
Ashur Komaki Hooper and Xavier Leon Smith, both 17, are alleged to have stolen a vehicle in Lutherville, Md., and driven it to Hagerstown where they were pursued by police before wrecking it, according to the charging document. The pair then allegedly stole the private vehicle of the security guard at gunpoint and then drove back to the group home.
Smith was ordered to continue being held without bond during a bond review hearing in Washington County District Court on Tuesday. District Judge Mark D. Thomas ordered Smith to be transferred to a secure juvenile facility pending a determination as to whether his case will remain in adult court or be transferred to juvenile court.
Hooper is scheduled for a bond hearing Wednesday, according to court records.
At 2:27 a.m. June 4, Hagerstown police went to Maryland Avenue where a Chevy Cruze had crashed into a sign. The heavily-damaged car had been reported stolen on June 2 in Baltimore County, the charging document said.
Shortly before the crash, a Washington County Sheriff’s Office deputy had attempted to stop the car near Washington Avenue and Nottingham Road, but the occupants of the car were able to get away, the document said.
A woman security guard at Great Southern Wood on Maryland Avenue reported at 3:24 a.m. that her car had been stolen by two males wearing bandanas over their faces, the document said. The woman told Hagerstown police she was sitting in her vehicle when the males walked by, then came back to the car and pointed handguns at her.
One male put a gun to the back of her head and walked her into a wooded area, then drove off in her car with the other male, the document said. The driver of the car rammed a gate at the company before driving onto to Maryland Avenue.
Police contacted the woman’s cellphone service provider and the phone was tracked to within a block of the group home on Overlea Avenue, the document said. The car was recovered on the street, which is in the Overlea neighborhood of Baltimore County, on June 5.
Police contacted staff at the home, who told them Smith and Hooper were gone during the time the carjacking occurred, according to the application for statement of charges. The home is for juveniles who have been placed there by the courts, the document said.
Staff said Smith and Hooper both had a history of breaking into and stealing cars, and Hooper was arrested two weeks earlier for stealing a car, according to the document.
In Smith’s room, police found an Xbox 360 and a phone charger the victim reported were in her vehicle, the document said.
On June 6, staff at the home reported Hooper and Smith had returned, the document said. Both said they went to Hagerstown to visit a girl, but Hooper left the interview — and the group home — when asked about the carjacking.
After Hooper left, Smith told staff Hooper left with four handguns he had hidden in a slit in his mattress, the document said. Staff then found a cellphone in Hooper’s room that belonged to the victim.
Baltimore County police then searched Hooper’s room and, inside the mattress, found a black bandana, gloves, a knife and a replica air pistol, along with the victim’s flashlight, the document said.
Arrest warrants for both teens were served on Monday, court records said. In addition to carjacking, they face kidnapping, assault, theft and firearms charges.
