A 66-year-old Uber Eats driver was killed earlier this week when he was thrown from his vehicle after two teenage girls allegedly carjacked him near Nationals Park in southeast Washington, D.C.
Mohammad Anwar died after police say two girls, aged 13 and 15, used a stun gun against him and stole his car before causing it to flip, according to NBC 4 Washington.
The 13-year-old girl is from southeast D.C. and the 15-year-old is from Fort Washington, Maryland, according to police. Their names were not given, but released documents revealed they face felony murder charges and were taken to the Metropolitan Police Department’s homicide branch.
EXCLUSIVE: Law enforcement sources tell me 2 teenage girls, ages 13 & 15, are accused of an armed car jacking in SE Washington, DC. The car crashed & flipped over near Nats Park. The victim landed on the sidewalk & died at a hospital. Police arrested 2 suspects: @nbcwashington. pic.twitter.com/S5sqKE5gKc
— Shomari Stone (@shomaristone) March 24, 2021
Graphic video taken by a bystander depicts the violent scene, which shows how Anwar fought with the girls before they drove off while he was still attached to the vehicle. They crash the car, and the video later shows Anwar’s body on the sidewalk as National Guardsmen help the girls out of the flipped vehicle. One of the girls can be heard saying something about her phone.
Anwar, who was working as an Uber Eats driver at the time of his death, was a father and grandfather with loved ones in both the U.S. and Pakistan, according to his family, who described the crime as “senseless.”
“He was a hardworking immigrant who came to the U.S. in 2014 to build a better life for himself and his family,” his family said in a statement. “The loss for his family is immeasurable.”
As NBC 4 Washington reported of a nearby witness:
D.C. resident Pamela Johnson said she couldn’t believe her eyes.
“I saw all the police cars first. Then I saw the car, and I thought, ‘This must be a movie scene or something,’” she said.
Johnson said she often parks in the exact spot where she saw Anwar’s car after it flipped.
Shattered glass remained near the crash site later Wednesday. Paving bricks were scattered, and bike racks had been lifted out of the ground.
Johnson called for justice for the victim.
“I think that people do need to be brought to justice and that they have to stand for what they did and be accountable for their actions, because someone died,” she said.
Anwar is survived by his wife and two adult children in the U.S., as well an adult son and four children in Pakistan. A GoFundMe that was set up to give financial support to his family so they can give him an Islamic funeral has raised more than $200,000 as of Saturday night. The GoFundMe page reads:
Mohammad Anwar was a hard-working Pakistani immigrant who came to the United States to create a better life for him and his family. He was simply at work yesterday evening, providing for his family, when his life was tragically taken in an appalling act of violence. The details are still being investigated, however we know that Anwar was working on an UberEats delivery when two assailants attempted to carjack him in Navy Yard.
Over $72k raised in 11 hours for family and funeral of Uber Eats driver murdered on the job. Mohammad Anwar, a father & grandfather, was killed when teen girls tried to carjack him in DC https://t.co/xhAwFZoETs
— Lindsay Watts (@LindsayAWatts) March 25, 2021
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