A nun who was dressed in a habit when she was carjacked in Northeast D.C. took a moment to bless the man accused of holding a gun to her head and stealing her car.
"May God bless you," the nun told the man, according to court documents.
The nun, who is part of the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara community, was walking on Quincy Street about 7 p.m. Monday to a minivan owned by the convent. She told police she locked eyes with a man wearing a bandana over his face.
After grabbing a CD from the minivan’s stereo, the man with the bandana approached her.
According to court documents, the suspect motioned to the waistband of his pants and said, "Give me the key right now."
The nun was silent and didn't hand over the keys, court documents say.
He then held a gun to her left temple, again demanding the keys, she told police. The nun held the keys out to her attacker, she told police.
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As he grabbed the keys, she told her attacker, "May God bless you."
The nun ran inside, and the other nuns contacted police.
The stolen vehicle passed a license plate reader, and police tried to pull over the suspect on Benning Road and 26th Street, about 3.5 miles from where the attack occurred. The suspect jumped out of the moving van, and the vehicle rolled into a police car. The police cruiser then collided with a parked car. All three vehicles were damaged.
Police chased the suspect and caught up with him a few blocks away. Police say they found the gun and a red bandana tucked into his pockets.
Brandon Brown, 20, of Northeast D.C., was arrested on charges of armed carjacking with a gun and carrying a pistol without a licence, police said.
According to court documents, Brown confessed to the carjacking. He told police he was in the neighborhood to meet up with friends but got lost. Court documents say he told police he didn’t have money to take the Metro home and targeted the nun because she was in a secluded place.
Brown told police he noticed the nun's habit but didn’t think she was a nun. Court documents say Brown said he thought the nun was just very religious.
But he fled, he heard her blessing.
Brown said he got the gun from a friend for protection four days before the carjacking, court documents show. He told police he didn’t think he would do anything close to what he did.
He appeared in court on Tuesday and is being held without bond.
