Eric Woods, 18, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced on Mar. 13 to ten years in prison for an armed carjacking that took place in October 2024, according to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
The sentencing highlights the consequences of violent crimes involving firearms and the prosecution of juveniles as adults in serious cases. Woods was charged as an adult under Title 16 after committing the offense at age 17.
Woods pleaded guilty on June 30, 2025, to one count of armed carjacking and one count of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. Judge Robert Salerno handed down a sentence of ten years for the carjacking and five years for the firearm charge, with both sentences running concurrently. The judge also denied Woods’ request to be sentenced under the Youth Rehabilitation Act.
According to government evidence presented in court, Woods and another suspect approached a man sitting inside a Hyundai Elantra near Hanover Place and North Capitol Street NW at about 1:33 a.m. on October 11, 2024. Woods exited his vehicle with an assault rifle-style firearm, demanded the victim exit his car, took a garage remote from him, and then drove away in the stolen vehicle while his accomplice left in their original car.
The victim and a relative tracked the stolen vehicle and alerted police. Officers from Metropolitan Police Department’s Sixth and Seventh Districts, assisted by MPD’s Air Support Unit, located the vehicle on Jasper Street SE. Woods fled on foot but was apprehended shortly after discarding a loaded semi-automatic rifle into a trash can. He was found with items belonging to the victim and arrested that day.
U.S. Attorney Pirro announced the sentence alongside Interim Chief Jeffery W. Carroll of the Metropolitan Police Department. Both officials thanked investigators from MPD and commended Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Goldstein for prosecuting the case.