24 carjackings in 7 days in Baltimore, including two employees at children's hospital
BALTIMORE -- Twenty-four people have been carjacked in Baltimore over the past seven days, according to the police department's crime map.
That number includes two employees at the Mount Washington Pediatric Hospital this week.
WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren reports seeing a visible security presence at the hospital on Friday.
The first carjacking happened around 6 p.m. on Wednesday. The second happened just after 11 a.m. on Thursday.
Pati, who declined to give her last name, has a child who is a patient at the Mount Washington Pediatric Hospital campus in Northwest Baltimore. She said she was stunned to learn about the back-to-back carjackings in the hospital's parking lot.
"My baby has been coming here for 15 years," she said. "I never felt that I wasn't safe up until last night."
Police released an image of a person of interest in the case. They say the suspects include a man and a woman.
"I feel for the people who live on this street and our kids with people bringing them back and forth to the doctor," Pati said. "It's scary."
She told Hellgren she thought about canceling her child's appointment on Friday but ultimately decided to keep it.
She said she stayed aware of her surroundings and made sure to lock her doors.
The hospital has added private security and K9 dogs.
"The entire team is troubled and concerned about these events, which are abnormal in the beautiful Mt. Washington community," Mt. Washington Pediatric told WJZ in a statement.
"I was happy to see security and dogs and police," Pati said. "They really stepped-up security. I hate to say 'tis the season' people are out there with crime."
The hospital said the employees were not physically harmed.
"I think the people who are doing it, I don't think that crosses their mind. I think they're just doing it for the thrill," Pati said. "I think they're doing it for the cars. They're not thinking about who they are affecting."
On Thursday alone, police reported other armed carjackings in the 2600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue and in the 4400 block of Moravia Road.
In the Moravia Road case, the victim was walking and was approached by armed suspects who took their car keys. The vehicle was later found in the 4300 block of Kavon Road.
In the Pennsylvania Avenue case, a man was putting items into his back seat when two armed men approached him and took off in his car.
Earlier this week, Hellgren put a spotlight on recent carjackings in the Hampden neighborhood.
On Tuesday night, residents of Baltimore City and Baltimore County confronted local leaders about carjackings and other crimes.
Among them was Donna Tallent, who still had a bruised eye after teenagers pistol-whipped her and took her car in Rosedale.
"They were 15 and 16 years old, and old enough to know better," Tallent told WJZ, adding that she is "furious" and still recovering from the injuries that hospitalized her.
"These kids need to have consequences, and if they don't have consequences, let's go after the parents," she said.
In Anne Arundel County, police are searching for the suspect who carjacked a shopper on Black Friday.
