The Stolen SUV That a Woman in D.C. Was Crashed Into the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Killed Her

Police say a woman died Monday when her SUV was stolen from a hospital and then crashed into the corner of the U.S. attorney’s office building in downtown Washington, D.C.

Police found out that the woman who died was 55-year-old Leslie Marie Gaines from the Northeast neighborhood. On Tuesday, cops said that she was in the passenger seat of a Mazda SUV at the MedStar Washington Hospital Center when the driver, Gaines’ daughter, got out to get her mother a wheelchair.

That’s when 22-year-old Southeast resident Kayla Kenisha Brown jumped into the Mazda and drove off while Gaines was still in the SUV.

Police say Brown crashed the Mazda into the corner of the U.S. Attorney’s Office near the 400 block of 6th Street, Northwest, just before 1:30 p.m., which was about 18 minutes after she stole the car.

Police say Brown has been charged with felony murder, kidnapping, and carjacking after talking with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

It wasn’t clear right away on Tuesday afternoon if Brown had hired a lawyer.

At a news conference on Monday, Assistant Washington Police Chief Darnel Robinson called what happened a “tragedy.”

Police officer close saw the crash through the rearview mirror and saw the driver get out of the car and try to run away, Robinson said. He said that the officer held the driver to question him.

Police said that they are still looking into what happened.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will decide how and why Gaines died, according to the cops.

NBC Washington says that the number of car thefts in the nation’s capital more than doubled last year. Police data shows that the number of carjackings this year so far is 33% less than the same time last year.