Source: United States Department of Justice News
WASHINGTON – Daeyon Ross, 22, of the District of Columbia, is charged by indictment alleging six criminal counts related to a carjacking spree, on July 2, 2023, that left one Maryland resident and two dogs dead. The incident, which occurred over a span of 20-30 minutes, began in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and ended in a shootout with police officers in Northeast Washington, D.C.
Ross was indicted by a grand jury in the District Court for the District of Columbia on charges of: assault with intent to kill while armed; carjacking; assault on a police officer while armed; assault with a dangerous weapon; using, carrying, possessing, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence; and unlawful possession of a firearm by a person previously convicted of a crime punishable by a term of imprisonment of more than one year.
According to the government’s evidence, the Metropolitan Police Department’s Air Support Unit (Falcon) spotted Ross driving recklessly at high speeds from Washington D.C. into Prince George’s County, Maryland. While in Prince George’s County, Ross carjacked multiple cars while armed with a stolen handgun equipped with a large capacity magazine. In the process, Ross shot to death a 56-year old off-duty Metro bus driver and two dogs.
Ross proceeded to re-enter Washington D.C., where he crashed one of the carjacked vehicles in a residential neighborhood in Northeast D.C. Ross then used his handgun to carjack yet another vehicle from a D.C. resident who was returning from church. Ross attempted to flee again before crashing into Maryland law enforcement officers that had continued to pursue him from Maryland into D.C. Ross then opened fire on law enforcement. Officers returned fire and Ross surrendered shortly thereafter. Neither Ross nor the officers were harmed in the shootout.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin F. Song and Alec Levy of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
The case is being investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Violent Crime Task Force, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the Prince George’s County Police Department. It is brought with the assistance of and in coordination with the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.