PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Five teenagers have been charged in the carjacking of Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon in South Philadelphia. The one adult, a 19-year-old, now faces federal charges, and he has already apologized to the politician.
President Joe Biden called Scanlon Thursday and conducted a personal conversation to see how she was faring.
According to court documents, federal officials say Josiah Brown and at least two others were driving around Philadelphia and decided to steal a car. They spotted Scanlon and her colleague walking out from FDR Park.
"A car pulled up, kind of behind and at first we didn’t pay much attention to it," Scanlon said Thursday. The car blocked her in.
"Two people got out of the car and approached us with guns, and said ‘Give me the keys,' so I did," Scanlon added.
"They were young people and they had guns and, you know, I was scared that someone would do something even more stupid than steal a car."
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The two jumped in the car and took off.
Federal investigators got involved because, sources say, Scanlon’s government-issued cell phone was in the car at the time.
The FBI Task Force tracked the car, which also had a GPS system, to Delaware. They eventually found it parked outside a Christiana shopping center.
Brown and the four teens, ages 13, 14, 15 and 16, walked up at that moment. All began to scatter, but were eventually arrested by the Delaware State Police.
When Brown was interviewed, they say he admitted to pointing the gun at Scanlon’s chest. He wrote her an apology letter for doing that, and stealing her car.
"I have not seen this letter," said Scanlon.
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Brown remains in custody, and federal investigators are continuing to see if anyone else was involved. He has prior theft arrests, and if convicted in this case, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
All the teens have been charged in Delaware with receiving stolen property, but the 15-year-old has also been charged with resisting arrest and two counts of criminal mischief.
"As we all know, there has been a rash of violent crime in Philadelphia, but people may not appreciate that an armed carjacking is a very serious federal offense and while there were national security implications to this particular incident, we are always working with our local partners in an effort to determine whether a case should be adopted and taken federally," said United States Attorney for the Eastern District Jennifer Arbittier Williams.
"The bottom line is this: If you pick up a gun and use it to commit a crime, we will come after you and we are very good at what we do."
The congresswoman and her staffer were not physically hurt.
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Scanlon said President Biden's conversation touched on firearms legislation.
"I was quite touched that the president reached out to me," she said. "It was mostly a personal call, but we talked a little bit about my frustration with not getting the NRA and right to do common-sense gun control measures."
Scanlon’s district covers most of Delaware County as well as small parts of Philadelphia, Chester and Montgomery counties.
Tim Jimenez, KYW Newsradio Staff and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
