A man was arrested after two carjackings at a cemetery in Brentwood, Prince George’s County police announced Wednesday.
Prosecutors allege that the suspect, 33-year-old Tony Budd, approached two women visiting a gravesite on May 21 at Fort Lincoln Cemetery on Bladensburg Road. They said he demanded the keys to a Jeep Wrangler parked nearby.
One woman was even shoved to the ground in the struggle for the keys.
The suspect, however, was unable to start the vehicle. He took $255 that he found in the Jeep and ran.
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As the women were giving statements to detectives who responded to their 911 call, a cemetery employee approached.
As he told officers his work vehicle, a 2017 Buick Lacrosse, had just been carjacked by a man armed with a pipe, that same car passed the group and headed out of the cemetery.
A detective jumped into his unmarked cruiser and pursued the Buick for more than a mile to the parking lot of a pawn shop on Annapolis Road.
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Budd was arrested after he jumped out of the car and tried to run.
The crime comes amid a spike in carjackings that prompted a response from County Executive Angela Alsobrooks on Wednesday.
“None of us feel safe. I don't feel safe stopping at a gas station to get gas. Look all around. We all feel somewhat under siege," she said.
Fort Lincoln Cemetery has beefed up its security features in recent years, adding safety cameras and signs instructing visitors not to leave keys or valuables in their cars.
A judge ordered Budd held behind bars until his next court appearance.