US marshal shoots teen near Justice Sotomayor's home after carjacking attempt
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. (Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)
A deputy U.S. Marshal on a Supreme Court protective detail shot and wounded a Washington, D.C., teenager who tried to carjack him Friday near the home of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, according to authorities and court documents.
The shooting occurred Friday at 1:17 a.m. around the U Street corridor, D.C. police said.
Kentrell Flowers, 18, of Southeast Washington was a passenger in a silver Toyota minivan that pulled alongside a parked, unmarked government vehicle and stopped, according to court documents. A marshal was seated inside the vehicle as Flowers left the van’s rear right passenger door and approached and pointed a handgun through the window in an apparent attempted carjacking, charging documents said.
The marshal pulled out his service weapon and fired several shots, striking Flowers in the mouth, according to court documents. A second deputy marshal arrived in another vehicle and also fired his service weapon, police said.
Someone else in the van, which had been carjacked, fled the scene, and the vehicle has not been recovered, authorities said.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Marshals Service said the two marshals involved in the shooting were part of the unit assigned to protect the residences of U.S. Supreme Court justices. The marshals were assigned to protect Sotomayor, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Flowers was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and remained there as of Tuesday. He was charged in U.S. District Court with armed carjacking, carrying a pistol without a license and possession of a large-capacity ammunition-feeding device. Police said they found a black-and-silver Smith & Wesson handgun at the scene.
Online court records did not list an attorney for Flowers.
Details of the shooting were reported earlier by the Daily Mail.
A D.C. police spokesman said the shooting was being investigated by the department’s internal affairs division.
According to D.C. police, carjackings in the District are down 46 percent, with 258 carjackings in the first six months of 2023 compared with 482 carjackings for the same period last year.
Aaron Schaffer, Spencer S. Hsu and Justin Jouvenal contributed to this report.
