It’s a chilling crime that has some D.C. residents doing a double take when they walk down the street.
“It’s horrible. It's so cold outside,” said D.C. resident Teresa O’Brien. “It’s too cold to take jackets off of people.”
Police say a group of criminals assaulted a man over the weekend and stole his coat, before speeding off in stolen cars.
“It’s starting to get scary because it’s a jacket, then it’s going to become your shoes, then your shirt and your pants,” said D.C. resident Devon Maxwell.
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Investigators say it happened Saturday afternoon on 2nd Street northeast near G Street.
The victim called police just before 2 p.m. saying he had been attacked and robbed.
“That's kind of crazy to hear,” said James Morgan, who lives nearby. “I feel like, I mean I know that there is crime in the D.C. area, but it kind of feels like this area, because there’s so much foot traffic, is a little bit sheltered from that.”
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And that jacket-jacking is just the latest example of a sinister, seasonal trend in the DMV where criminals target victims and take their expensive coats. Last winter, Hyattsville police say a 14-year-old boy was shot during an attempted jacket robbery, and the same month two separate coat robberies reported in D.C.
“Somebody who commits a crime like that, I can’t even imagine why,” said D.C. resident Peter Lavatto.
Police say they’re looking for the stolen Hyundais from the weekend robbery. One is white with Virginia tags “UCZ-6524” and the other is black and bearing North Carolina plate “KCZ-793.”
And now, some, like O'Brien, are second guessing their winter wardrobe before bundling up and heading out.
“I mean, I’m wearing this jacket which is not a real whatever the fancy brand of this is, but I have thought twice about wearing this jacket before,” she said. “But it’s also the warmest one I have, and it’s freezing outside, so it makes you think twice.”
This is an active investigation, and anyone who knows anything that can help is being asked to call MPD.
