District Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison For Armed Carjacking

            WASHINGTON – Eugene Shuler, 26, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 15 years in prison for a 2016 carjacking in Southeast Washington in which he struck a husband and wife in their head with a firearm in front of their home and drove off with their automobile, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). 

            Shuler was found guilty by a jury in September 2017 of one count each of armed carjacking and first-degree theft, and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. The verdict followed a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was sentenced by the Honorable Ronna L. Beck. Upon completion of his prison term, Shuler will be placed on five years of supervised release.

            According to the government’s evidence presented at trial, on July 13, 2016 at about midnight, the victims were in front of their home in Southeast Washington. The husband was sitting in the driver’s seat of the automobile talking to his wife through an open window. Shuler and an unidentified male approached the couple and demanded the wife step away from the car. Shuler then struck her in the head with a firearm, causing her to fall to the ground. Shuler then ordered the husband out of the car at gunpoint, striking him in the head with a firearm as well once he exited the automobile. Shuler fled the scene in the victim's car. 

            Several MPD officers responded to the scene, promptly obtaining valuable identification evidence, and broadcasting it over police radio channels. The stolen vehicle was spotted approximately 30 minutes later in the area of Eastern Avenue and Southern Avenue on the eastern tip of the District of Columbia. A brief car chase ensued, with Shuler and the other male stopping at a dead end road in Prince George’s County, Md. The other male fled through a wooded area and escaped. Shuler exited the automobile, threw the victim’s cell phone, and ran over an MPD officer while he tried to flee the scene, before ultimately being apprehended in the early morning hours of July 14, 2016.  

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They also expressed appreciation for the efforts of those who handled the case at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kevin L. Rosenberg and Shehzad Akhtar, who prosecuted and tried the case, and Assistant U.S Attorneys C.B. Buente and Laura Bach, who investigated and supervised the prosecution respectively.