A U.S. Marshal who was “part of the unit protecting the residences of U.S. Supreme Court justices" shot a suspected carjacker near Justice Sonia Sotomayor's home.
The incident took place in the early morning hours Friday when a stolen van pulled up to the unmarked car the U.S. marshals were sitting in near the justice’s home, court documents reveal. The suspect, Kentrell Flowers, exited the vehicle and pointed a gun into the window of the marshals’ car, when one of the marshals drew his gun and fired four times, hitting Flowers in the mouth.
The marshal removed the weapon and administered aid before the suspect was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
According to the complaint, Flowers’ firearm was a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson loaded with eight rounds. The driver of the silver van that Flowers arrived in — which investigators confirmed was a stolen vehicle — fled the scene and has not been caught.
There’s no indication that Sotomayor was a target of the attempted theft. But it’s the latest brush with violent crime for high-profile D.C. residents.
Earlier this year, the Secret Service arrested two people for attempting to break into a Secret Service vehicle that was part of the protective detail for President Joe Biden’s granddaughter Naomi. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) was held up at gunpoint and carjacked in the Navy Yard neighborhood last fall. And Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) was assaulted by a man in the lobby of her apartment building in February 2023. (Politico)
Flowers was arrested and charged with Armed Carjacking, Carrying a Pistol without a License, and Possession of a Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
Critics highlighted the fact that the anti-Second Amendment justice enjoys armed protection despite joining a dissent that rejected "a private right of armed self-defense" in McDonald v. Chicago.
In 2010, Justice Sotomayor joined a dissenting opinion in McDonald v. Chicago that stated, “In sum, the Framers did not write the Second Amendment in order to protect a private right of armed self-defense.”
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 9, 2024
Meanwhile, Sotomayor’s armed security team just sh*t a would-be… pic.twitter.com/d9CmFK76Yp
I'd like Sonia Sotomayor to answer whether she thinks her bodyguard should have been allowed to do this if he was just her private citizen neighbor, and not a SCOTUS bodyguard. https://t.co/vzBHdEYwCk
— Kostas Moros (@MorosKostas) July 9, 2024