Matthew M. Graves U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia
Tywan J. Cummings, a 44-year-old resident of Washington D.C., received a federal prison sentence of 204 months for his involvement in an armed carjacking spree that occurred in May 2020. The incident led to a police chase during which Cummings fired shots at officers and broke into an occupied residence where he was eventually apprehended.
The sentencing was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr., FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean Ryan, and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department.
Cummings entered a guilty plea on August 18, 2023, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He admitted to charges including carjacking; using, possessing, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence; and assaulting, resisting, or interfering with a police officer with a dangerous weapon. Besides the prison term, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered him to serve five years of supervised release.
According to evidence presented by the government, on May 17, 2020, Cummings approached a man in Northeast Washington D.C.'s Trinidad neighborhood while he was inflating his BMW's tire and stole the vehicle at gunpoint using an AR-style rifle. Cummings then drove into Maryland where he carjacked another vehicle from a nurse outside a hospital in Prince George’s County.
By early morning on May 18, multiple law enforcement agencies pursued Cummings as he drove yet another stolen vehicle—a Honda Ridgeline—back into Southeast Washington D.C. At Pennsylvania Avenue SE and Alabama Avenue SE intersection, Cummings crashed the Honda into another car near a gas station and fled on foot while firing shots at pursuing officers.
Cummings later broke into an occupied home on Pennsylvania Avenue SE and hid until being captured by MPD’s Emergency Response Team. Officers recovered firearms including a .40 caliber semiautomatic handgun and over 100 rounds of ammunition from him and his stolen vehicles. Fortunately, no victims were physically injured during these events.
The investigation involved collaboration between several law enforcement agencies including the FBI Washington Field Office’s Violent Crimes Task Force and multiple local police departments from Maryland counties.
Assistant United States Attorneys Emory V. Cole and Paul V. Courtney prosecuted this case.
