Representative Henry Cuellar, a veteran Texas Democrat, was the victim of a carjacking in Washington on Monday night, according to his chief of staff, who added that he was not injured.
Cuellar, 68, had been parking his car when “three armed assailants” approached and stole the vehicle, the chief of staff, Jacob Hochberg, said in a statement.
The vehicle was later recovered by police, Hochberg said. The robbery occurred in the city’s Navy Yard neighborhood, according to the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police.
First elected to Congress in 2004, Cuellar represents a South Texas district that extends from the eastern outskirts of San Antonio extending to Laredo and the Mexican border.
As in many urban areas, crime in the nation’s capital has risen sharply, generating concern and alarm among the city’s residents. Motor vehicle thefts have soared 106% so far this year compared to the same period in 2022, to 5,398 incidents in 2023 from 2,619 last year, according to the Metropolitan Police. Robberies have shot up 68% so in the same period to 2,624 cases, while homicides have surged 37% to 215.
In February, Representative Angie Craig, a Minnesota Democrat, was attacked in an elevator of her Washington apartment house. A man punched her in the face and grabbed her neck. She threw a cup of hot coffee at him and escaped. A suspect was later arrested.
The rise of crime in the District has led to demands by congressional Republicans for more control over how it is governed.
--With assistance from Billy House and Steven T. Dennis.
