Police later arrested an 18-year-old Bowie man after finding the stolen Lexus and a loaded handgun, authorities said.
PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, MD — Mahasin El Amin, the elected clerk of the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, said she feared she was about to be killed when a man opened her car door, showed a gun and stole her Lexus in broad daylight near Woodmore Town Center last week.
The attack quickly became more than another police case in a county still working to push carjackings down from pandemic-era highs. El Amin is a countywide elected court official whose office handles records and court administration for the Circuit Court in Upper Marlboro. Her account put a public face on the trauma behind a violent crime that police leaders have said leaves victims shaken long after the vehicle is gone. By the weekend, investigators said they had identified a suspect, recovered the stolen car and filed felony charges.
El Amin said the carjacking happened Thursday, April 16, after she briefly pulled over near the 1900 block of Grand Way Boulevard to take a phone call and prepare for a Zoom call. She said the encounter unfolded in seconds. A young man came to the passenger side, opened the door and revealed a handgun. He wore a face mask and a brown hoodie, she said, and ordered her out. “The next thing you know, he opens up my car door,” El Amin said in a television interview a day later. “I’m like, ‘I’m getting carjacked,’ and then I just freaked out.” She said the man drove away in her white 2014 Lexus IS 250. El Amin was not physically injured, but she said the emotional shock hit immediately. “It’s the scariest thing that ever happened to me in my life,” she said. “It was so quick,” she added, saying she thought, “I’m literally going to die.”
Police said the armed carjacking was reported at about 12:40 p.m. Thursday. Investigators later found the stolen Lexus in the Lanham area on Friday, according to police and local news reports. Officers tried to stop the car, and authorities said the driver fled, leading to a brief pursuit that ended in a crash. Police said the suspect then ran but was caught after a coordinated search. Investigators identified him as Kairee Hicks, 18, of Bowie. Authorities said officers recovered a loaded handgun with an obliterated serial number and other evidence they said tied Hicks to the carjacking. Hicks was charged with armed carjacking, use of a firearm in a crime of violence, illegal possession of a handgun and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Police also said detectives obtained a warrant charging him in a separate April 10 shooting in the 7100 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Highway, where a man was seriously wounded during a dispute.
The case drew unusual attention because of El Amin’s role in the local justice system. As clerk of the Circuit Court, she is a locally elected state official who oversees court administration and maintains court records. She first won the office in 2018 and was re-elected in 2022. In interviews after the attack, El Amin said none of her years around criminal cases prepared her for what it feels like to be the person targeted. She said the experience gave her a sharper understanding of the fear and uncertainty many victims bring into the courthouse. That point matters in Prince George’s County, where police have spent the past two years trying to reduce robberies and carjackings that surged after 2020. County Police Chief Malik Aziz said earlier this year that carjackings in the county fell by about one-third in 2024 from 2023. Even with that drop, the county still investigated roughly 340 carjackings last year, far above the 93 recorded in 2019, before the pandemic. The numbers show improvement, but they also show why a single daytime attack on a busy commercial strip still lands with force.
El Amin said the location also added to her shock. The area near Woodmore Town Center is a busy retail corridor, and she said she did not expect an armed confrontation there in the middle of the day. That detail has been a repeated point in local coverage: the carjacking did not happen on an empty road late at night, but in a well-traveled area during business hours. The broad daylight timing fits what police and residents across the Washington region have said for several years about the changing nature of carjackings, which often happen quickly and in places drivers may consider routine or safe. What remains unclear from the public record is whether Hicks knew El Amin’s identity before the attack or whether investigators believe she was chosen at random. Police have publicly described the victim only as a female driver in the charging account and have not said the clerk’s position played any role in the crime. They also have not publicly outlined whether additional suspects may have helped before or after the theft.
The case moved quickly into the court system. At a bond review hearing in Upper Marlboro, a judge ordered Hicks held without bond, according to local reporting. That decision came as prosecutors were already tying him to the separate shooting case. The no-bond ruling means he remains jailed while the criminal case proceeds, unless a later court order changes his status. Public charging documents and any future court filings are expected to lay out more of the prosecution’s evidence, including police observations, property recovery details and any statements or forensic findings tied to the handgun. Investigators may also seek surveillance video from the shopping area and traffic cameras from the pursuit route. A preliminary hearing or other scheduling step would typically follow under Maryland criminal procedure, though the next court date was not widely reported in early coverage. For now, the most immediate milestone is the continued prosecution of the carjacking charges and the separate attempted murder-related case connected to the April 10 shooting.
El Amin said she felt relief when she learned police had made an arrest. “I’m glad that this guy, this dangerous guy, is off the streets,” she said after the suspect was taken into custody. “That’s one less person that we have to worry about.” Her comments carried both the fear of a recent victim and the outlook of an official who regularly sees violent cases enter the court system. In that sense, the story has resonated beyond the usual crime brief. It joined public concern about whether the county’s recent decline in carjackings can hold, especially when one incident can still unfold so fast and so publicly. The image left by El Amin’s account is stark: a driver pulling over for an ordinary call, a stranger at the door, a gun revealed, and a life briefly narrowed to a single thought about survival.
As of Monday, April 20, police said the stolen Lexus had been recovered, Hicks had been arrested and charged, and he was being held without bond. The next major step is the court process, where prosecutors are expected to press the armed carjacking case while the separate shooting allegation also moves forward.
Author note: Last updated April 21, 2026.