An 18-year-old man was sentenced Friday to five years in prison after prosecutors said he and three masked accomplices stole a white Volkswagen Jetta at gunpoint on East Capitol Street. The carjacking ended with a police chase, two arrests and two firearms recovered from the vehicle.
WJLA reports that Mekhi Greene was sentenced in connection with the March 23, 2025, carjacking in Northeast Washington. Authorities said all four suspects wore masks, and at least one carried a large firearm during the theft.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C., officers later spotted the stolen Jetta and tried to pull it over. The vehicle drove into a dead end near 33rd Street Southeast and C Street Southeast, where the suspects ran; Greene and Keon Preston were arrested, while two others escaped. Police found two illegal firearms inside, including one equipped with an automatic conversion switch and loaded with a round in the chamber.
A Carjacking Tied To A Same-Day Shooting
The case involved more than a single vehicle theft. An earlier Hoodline report detailed prosecutors’ account that Preston and two other suspects fired roughly 30 rounds at a victim near G Street Southeast earlier that day, striking the victim’s home and car but not the victim. Greene later pleaded guilty to carjacking, while Preston admitted to assault with intent to kill, machine gun possession and carjacking.
The sentence is notable because the Justice Department said carjacking generally carried a seven-year mandatory minimum when the pair entered their pleas in September 2025. A later DOJ announcement identified Greene as 17 at the time of the offense and said he was charged under Title 16, providing key context for the five-year term imposed Friday.
